Friends Are Forever
by RoxiMaximoff
Summary: These guys... They look so familiar... Who are they? Familiar strangers?
1. Ch 1: Lost Memories

Author's Note: hey guy's... This is my newest story, hope everyone likes it. It starts out a bit confusing, but it'll make sense soon.

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_Friend… The term seems so distant now… Friends… What does it mean to be one... So confused… Can't think straight… This person… They look so familiar… Like a familiar stranger…They're talking to me… Can't understand… Things so foggy... It's starting to clear…_

"…Rouge…"

_Who is that… They're talking to me… The familiar stranger…_

"Rouge… Rouge… Are ya ok?"

_Rouge? Is that me? Ah'm not sure… Ah think… Things are clearer now… Those eyes… They're black, with red pupils… _

"Rouge… You have to snap outta it"

_Another voice, another person…. Their eyes…. bright and blue… Who are they?_

"Oh geez…. Do ya dink she's dead?" said the red on black eyed guy

"I don't know… Nein… She's not dead… She's breathing…" replied the blue-eyed boy

"What now though? She don't look so good…"

_Who are they? Images in my head… Of these guys…. Friends?....._

"Rouge! C'mon wake up!"

"Gambit… yelling won't help anything…."

_Gambit…. The one with the red on black eyes…. Like a faint memory…._

"I know, Kurt… It's just if she don't wake up, den what are we supposed ta do?"

_Kurt….. the blue eyed one….. are they….. friends?_

"Look, she seems to be waking up…" Kurt smiled

"And ya said yelling wouldn't help." Gambit said smugly.

"Whatever….. Rouge, are you ok?"

_Rouge… Is that my name?_

"C'mon Rouge…" Gambit said concern in his voice.

"Where… where am Ah?" the girl asked.

Kurt and Gambit looked at each other and smiled. "You're ok" Kurt said.

The girl started to push herself up, rubbing her head. She looked at the two. "Gambit? Kurt?" she questioned.

"yea it's us…" Kurt said, sounding relieved "C'mon let's get you back to the Institute."

Then the two guys threw her arms around their shoulders and started walking

_Back? Where is back exactly… They seem so familiar… Ah know their names and faces… But from where…. This Institute?_

"Ok c'mon… Here ya go." The two sat her on a bed that seemed oh too familiar.

"Rouge? Are you sure you're ok?" Kurt asked, worry in his eyes.

"Rouge?" the girl asked… The two looked at her now, confused. "Is that me?"

Gambit and Kurt looked at each other, their eyes wide. "Yea dat's ya…" Gambit finally said, after an awkward silence. He looked to Kurt again.

"Rouge… What all do ya remember?" Gambit asked.

_What do Ah remember? Nothing really…. It's all so foggy…. My head hurts…. Still so confused._

"Ah…. Ah don't remember anything… It's all a blur….. ah…. my head….."

"Ya don't remember anything?" Gambit questioned. The girl shook her head. "Great… Um… Well let's start from da beginning. Do ya know my name and his name?" Gambit said pointing to himself and Kurt.

"Gambit and Kurt…"

"YAY! At least she remembers us!!!" Gambit cheered.

Kurt sighed. "Gambit… She probably heard us say each other names…"

Gambit stopped cheering "Way ta kill da moment Nightcrawler…"

"Whatever… It's late; we'd all better get some rest… Rouge, for now all you really need to know is that your name is Anne Marie but you go by Rouge, and that this is your room." Kurt said "My room is just next door, and Gambit's is down the hall. So if you need anything you know where to find us."

"Yep, and if ya do end up going in the hall… If ya see anyone, just go along with what they say… We don't need Red or Shades knowing ya lost your memories yet." Gambit added, before turning to leave. "They'd have a hissy fit."

"Ok?" Rouge nodded "Good, then we'll see you in the morning. Good Night" Kurt said, closing the door.

_It's all so confusing… How can they expect me to sleep, when Ah don't even know where Ah am…. Ah can't sleep….. The bathroom….._

Rouge walked into the bathroom, and stood there staring in the mirror. She saw herself, and was astonished…

_This person… They're me…. Like the familiar stranger….. _

She had short Auburn hair, with two white streaks. Her eyes, a greenish-gray.

_This IS me… Ah'm still so confused… Gotta get some sleep… Kurt and Gambit will explain in the morning… hopefully…._

Rouge walked back into the bedroom section, and lay down on the bed. It only took her a minute to get comfortable, before she was out cold.


	2. Ch 2: Morning Tears

Author's Note: Well, I just want to say I don't own X-Men. And that here's Ch. 2

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Rouge began to awake. She sat up in her bed, looking around the room.

_Wow…. Last night was so weird; Ah had the craziest dream that Ah forgot everything… Haha, like that would happen._

She got out of bed, and got dressed. After that she proceeded to the Dining Room, where all her friends were. She went and sat down next to Gambit.

"Mornin' Cherè. Sleep well?" he asked her, in a seductive tone.

"Yea… Ah guess, Ah had a weird dream though… That Ah forgot all my memories… Haha, its silly ain't it?" Rouge laughed.

"Non Cherè. It ain't silly" Rouge looked at him puzzled. "It ain't silly cause dis is da dream…."

Rouge jumped outta bed. And began to cry. She wanted to remember everything. There was a pain in her heart; she knew there was a special memory in her heart. But that one was the faintest…

"Rouge? Are ya awake, Cherè?" Gambit knocked, before poking his head in the door. "Cherè…." He said, sounding upset "Don't cry…. We'll help ya get dem memories back." He chuckled. "We don't want ya ending up like Wolverine, now do we?"

Rouge looked up at him. "Wolverine?" she questioned.

"So ya don't even remember him… Well… How would Remy begin ta describe da Wolverine?" Gambit asked himself.

"Why to you need to describe me, bub?"

Gambit and Rouge looked up. Gambit got a bit wide eyed. "Well… um ya see…" Gambit scratched the back of his head, trying to think of what to say.

Then from behind Wolverine, Kurt appeared. "Because Rouge lost all her memories…"

"What?!" Wolverine growled. "This is your fault isn't it Gumbo?!"

"Me?" Gambit said defensively. "Why ya automatically assume it's Remy's fault?"

"Cause I know you're the one to get in trouble, and take other's down with you." Wolverine said through clenched teeth. Gambit didn't know how to reply, he knew the Wolverine was right.

"Logan! Don't go blaming Remy for everything again!" Rouge yelled. Everyone looked at her. "…Logan…" she muttered. She began to cry again.

"Hmm… It's ok Stripes, we'll figure this out. The only problem is the Professor is out of state."

"Professor?" Rouge asked, fear in her voice.

"Ist ok, the Professor is the one who brought us all here, remember?" Kurt said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Not really… Ugh… I hate this…." Rouge said

"It's gonna be ok, Cherè." Gambit told her.

"Yea, once the Professor gets back, he'll help you get your memories back." Logan said, sounding a bit upset. "Now, it's time for breakfast… So all of you get down there. And Rouge, try to avoid conversation… We don't need the mansion freaking out about you losing your memories and all." Logan smiled, and left.

"Well I'll meet you two downstairs." Kurt said, and left. (Through the door, he was too worried of freaking Rouge out if he teleported. This is the only reason he's still wearing the image inducer.)

"Well, Cherè. Remy will wait for ya in da hall. Dat way ya can take a shower, get dressed, and everything." Gambit said, and closed the door.

Rouge sighed. _Well Ah might as well hurry… Ah don't want to keep him waiting out there for too long…_

Rouge took a quick shower, and then proceeded to her wardrobe.

_What is this? Why is everything in my closet so… so… dark? Ugh…. Would Ah actually wear this?_ Rouge kept looking through her closet. Until she found a blue cami, she grabbed it, and through it on the bed. _Hmm… I guess black pants would be fine…_

After about 10 minutes of searching in her wardrobe, she was finally dressed. She brushed her hair, and teeth, then took one last look in the mirror. She opened the door, surprised to see Gambit, sitting there playing with cards.

"Playing with cards again?" she asked him.

Gambit looked up, about to reply with a sassy comment, but stopped himself. He saw Rouge standing there in the doorway. She was beautiful. Remy couldn't think of time when she looked better than she did now. The blue cami fitted her so well, and showed off a bit of her better features (hint, hint; wink, wink… remember this is Gambit).

"Why, Cherè… Ya look good…" is all Gambit could muster to say.

"Thank you." Rouge smiled.

"I don't remember ya owning anything dat wasn't black, green, or purple though."

"Ah know, when Ah looked through the closet it took me a good 10 minutes to find something that wasn't black…" she giggled.

"Well… Don't ya at think ya should cover up a bit more?"

"Why would Ah need to cover up more? It's only a cami…" Rouge asked.

"Well, Remy knows ya don't remember much of anything… But take me word for it; cover up, at least yer arms." Gambit told her.

"Fine…" Rouge went black into the room, and came back out with a black jacket on. "Better?" she asked.

"Oui" Gambit smiled. "Now let's get downstairs, before Logan freaks out."

_Why would Ah need to cover up my arms? Is there like a dress code here? Well that would explain all the sheer clothing in my wardrobe… Oh well… Ah wonder how well this breakfast will go…_

_

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_Well that's chapter 2. What will happen during breakfast? Who knows? Cause I sure as hell don't lol. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think. Plus I think this is my fastest update ever. Ha... That probably won't last....


	3. Ch 3: Breakfast

Well here's Chapter 3...

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Rogue and Gambit had finally arrived outside the dining hall. From inside Rogue could hear a bunch of people talking and laughing, followed by Logan yelling.

Rogue smiled a bit. "Ya remember sometim, Cherè?" Gambit asked, noticing her smile.

Rogue looked up at him; he had a soft, concerned look in his eyes and a smile on his face. She looked back down to the floor. "Nah, not really a memory. But it does seem a bit familiar…" She smiled again, and looked back up to him, trying to hold back the tears. "So then, should we go inside?"

Gambit looked at her, Rogue used to know that she could never hide anything from him. "Yea, c'mon." he said, forcing a smile. And opened the doors.

Rogue looked inside, it was amazing. There was a huge long dining table, which was filled with plates of food. And above the table was a beautiful crystal chandelier. "Wow…" was all Rogue could mutter.

"Yea, it is impressive ain't it, Cherè?"

"Yea…"

"Rogue! Like OMG! It's like about time you woke up! And like OMG you're like finally wearing that blue cami I got you! YAY!" squealed a girl, with a high ponytail. "Like, what made you want to like ya know finally wear it?"

"Um… well… Just trying it on…." Rogue replied hesitantly.

"Haha! I never would've guessed that like you would wear it though. You were always taking it like outta your closet, and like throwing it into mine!"

"Kitty, get over and finish eating." Called a red haired woman.

"Ugh… Like coming, Jean." Kitty yelled back and hopped back over to the table.

Rogue seemed even more confused than before. "Dat was Kitty. She used ta be yer roommate, until ya told de Professor ya wanted yer own room."

"I can't imagine why… The girl seriously needs to lay off the caffeine."

"Yea, but Kitty don't drink caffeine; she's always been like dis. And the red one over there is Jean. Ya better watch out fer her…"

"Why?" Rogue questioned.

"Let's just say, Jean has a way of getting in yer head. And she can find out anything she wants."

"Weird…"

"Yea, and the pretty boy sitting next ta her is Scott, her husband." (A.N. C'mon we all knew those two were gonna get married sooner or later. I just sped things up a bit)

"Ok so, Kitty, Scott, and Jean. Got it, but what about all of them down at the end?" Rogue asked.

"Remy don't really know dem. Dere de newest recruits… And Remy never really took de time ta get ta know dem." Gambit chuckled.

Rogue looked at him "So then if Ah don't need ta know their names, then let's go."

"After ya, Mademoiselle." Gambit then bowed and held out his hand, gesturing her to go. Rogue giggled and started walking. She took a seat next to Kurt, and Gambit the one next to her.

"Guten Morgen Rogue. Did you sleep well?" Kurt asked his image inducer still on.

"Uh… Yea I guess." Rogue replied, remembering the dream she had. Rogue wanted to cry, but something inside of her told not to.

Logan came and finally sat down across from Rogue. His eyes were angry looking, and he had scorch marks on his clothes.

"What happened ta ya?" Gambit asked, trying to hold back a laugh.

Logan glared at him. "Well, seeing as how the Professor and Storm are gone, Hank is letting these kids run wild. And magma thought it'd be funny to show everyone a 'neat' little trick. So I got scorched." He growled.

Gambit couldn't help it this time, and started laughing. Logan glared at him again. "Ok you two, cut it out." Rogue said. "Geez, y'all are like an old married couple." She stabbed a pancake with her fork.

"Oh Cherè, Remy would never marry Wolverine. Remy's ta good fer him." Gambit said with a smile.

"You're too good for me? Yea, that's a laugh! Now shut it, Gumbo, before I shut it for you!" Logan growled.

Rogue and Kurt were laughing. Because Remy ignored Logan's threat and kept arguing with him.

_Now this seems familiar…_ Rogue thought to herself, before busting out laughing again. Then everything started to go black again, then Rogue fell to the ground, everything pitch black.

_It doesn't matter even if your 'Professor' comes back… You are mine, and I will have my revenge…_

_Who….. Who are you? _Rogue asked the mysterious voice in her head.

_Who I am, is of no importance to you. All you need to know, is vengeance will be ours…_

Rogue woke up, and she was lying in a white bed. She started to freak out.

"It's ok, Cherè. Yer in de infirmary." Gambit said, walking in. "Ya passed out in de dining hall. Do ya know why?"

Rogue shook her head. "Ah don't, but Ah do remember hearing this voice in my head…"

"A voice?" Gambit asked. Rogue nodded. "Hmm…. Well Remy will talk ta Beast about dat, right now ya need ta rest." Gambit told her.

Rogue nodded again, and lay back down on the bed. She slowly closed her eyes, and fell asleep. Gambit rested his gloved hand on her bare shoulder, and sighed. "Don't worry Cherè. Remy will figure all dis out… Dat's a promise…" Gambit said and then left. Leaving Rogue there to sleep.

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Well that's it for this Chapter. I love showing off Remy's sweeter side. It always causes for an Aww... moment. lol Please Review, and let know of any ideas you might have, or of what you liked and/or disliked.


	4. Ch 4: Dreams, Memories, and Hopes

_Where am Ah? Am Ah dreaming? Ah must be… Last Ah remember Ah was in the infirmary with Remy. But this place, it's so peaceful… The moon, the ocean… Where am Ah?_ Rogue thought to herself, while standing in gazebo overlooking the ocean. She turned around, when she heard footsteps pacing. It was a furry blue creature, pacing back and forth by a statue. Rogue would've freaked, but she realized she was floating and couldn't be seen. After a minute, a shadowy figure comes walking up.

"Finally, I thought you wouldn't show." The blue creature told the figure, which Rogue could now see under her hood was an elderly woman. The woman approached the statue, and examined it. "Well? Can you help her?"

The woman removed her hood "No…. But she can." The woman said turning back towards the creature.

Rogue couldn't believe her eyes… It was her, walking up to the gazebo. "Rogue? Why are you here?" the creature asked Rogue.

"She's come to end her torment… Isn't that right child?" the elderly woman said.

"Yes…" Rogue said bluntly.

"If your mother is alive, only you have the power to save her. Rest your hand against the stone, and absorb the mutation." The woman told her.

"Hold on now, is that even safe?" the blue creature asked. "What if she—"

The woman cut him off. "A moment is all it will take. It will free Mystique enough to unlock her own powers."

"You're serious? Ah'm the only one that can save her?" Rogue asked

"Rogue, look it's the right thing. You know it is…" the creature told her

"No… Ah won't do it!" Rogue said, starting to walk off.

"If you don't help her, this will haunt you for the rest of your life. Prove that you're not like her." The creature said.

Rogue turned and walked back up to the statue. She looked at the statue, tears swelling up in her eyes. But then suddenly she screamed and pushed the statue off the gazebo. The woman and creature gasped. The creature then jumped off the cliff, and seemed to disappear in a puff of smoke, then reappear down on the rocks. He yelled as the statue broke against the rocks in front of him. He poofed down to the shattered remains and began to cry a bit. Rogue could see herself walk to the edge of the gazebo; she too began to cry and walked off, back the way she came. Once Rogue could no longer see herself, the scene went black…

She woke up screaming, causing Kurt, Logan, and Remy to all come running. "What is it Cherè?" Gambit tried to calm her down.

Rogue looked up at Remy. Then Logan… Then she screamed and fell of the bed. The three ran to help her, as she backed into a corner. She pointed a shaky finger at Kurt. "You… You're the creature from the dream." She said, terrified.

Kurt looked at her, then realizing he forgot to turn on his image inducer. She sighed… "Rogue, it's me… Kurt." He told her.

Rogue's eyes widened… "Kurt?" she asked.

"Yes, this is what I really look like…"

"Oui Cherè" Remy told her, helping her back on to the bed. "Now Cherè, tell us what ya were saying about a dream.

Rogue sighed and told them all what she had seen. The creature, the woman, the statue, everything. After she was finished, the room grew uncomfortably silent. "Rogue" Kurt murmured after a minute. "You saw that in your dream?" Rogue nodded.

"What is it?" Remy asked.

"That's what happened a couple of months ago, when Mystique was still a statue… I can't believe that you saw it so clearly though." Kurt said softly.

Logan sighed. "Stripes I've got a feeling that these dreams are gonna keep haunting your dreams for a while…"

"So you're sayin that Ah'm gonna keep seeing these……" Rogue pondered the word "Memories?" She asked

"Dat's quite possible Cherè." Gambit told her.

"It's ok though, Rogue. The Professor will be back in about a week. Then he can help you… Now you need to get some rest." Kurt told her, beginning to leave the room.

"The elf is right, get some rest kiddo." Logan ruffled her hair, then leaving.

"Cherè… If ya need anything don't hesitate ta call Remy, ok?" Remy told her.

Rogue nodded "Thanks Remy… So will this Professor really be able to help me?"

"Of course he will… Now ya get yer rest, Remy will be back here first ting in da mornin" Gambit told her, leaving the room. "Hopefully… De Professor can help ya…" Remy muttered under his breathe.

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Sorry it took so long to update... Well I guess it wasn't that long... lol Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to update everything again. Please Review, thanks!


	5. Ch 5: Campus Fun kinda

A.N. Hey Guys! Sorry that I haven't updated in like a month. But things got kinda complicated, and such. lol. Well, here's Chapter 5.

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Rogue just laid in the infirmary's bed, just starring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep; there was too much going on at once for her to just sleep. She knew she had to get out and regain the rest of her memories.

"All Ah got to do is get past Remy, Logan, and Kurt. Cause no one else would think it odd for me to leave. Would they? Ah've got to try at least." Rogue told herself, before slowly getting out of the bed. She was trying to be as quiet as humanly possible.

She slowly made her way back to her room undetected. Rogue threw on an outfit and made her back downstairs. There was no one around, which was perfect for her to make her escape. Rogue quietly crept towards the main doors…

"Hey Rogue! Where are you going?" called someone from behind.

Rogue turned quickly around. It was Scott, Jean's husband. She looked at him in amazement. He was tall with brown hair that was neatly combed back. _Who ever this Jean is she has really good taste in men._ Rogue thought to herself.

"Well are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna talk to me?" Scott chuckled.

"Oh yea… well…" Rogue blushed. "Ah was just going out, you know for a walk."

"Oh ok, well be sure you're back before it gets too dark. You know it's dangerous for us out in town nowadays." He said, walking away. "Oh by the way, the blue looks good on you." he smiled and left.

Rogue stood there a moment. Before running out the door. She stooped running when she got to the large wrought iron gate. She pressed the red button on the side and the gates flung open.

"Should Ah really be doing this?" Rogue questioned herself "Scott said that it's dangerous, and Remy will probably freak if he goes to check on me and Ah ain't there. But if Ah stay here it will take too long to figure things out. This Professor could be gone for a while." Rogue sighed.

"Are you going somewhere Rogue?"

Rogue turned to see who was talking to her now. But when she turned she was even more stunned than when she saw Scott. It was a tall woman, with long white hair. And her looks were almost goddess worthy.

"Uh… Ah was but Ah don't think it's such a good idea anymore." Rogue muttered after a minute.

The woman smiled "That's true. Anyway, Henry and Gambit were looking for you. And Gambit seemed pretty upset." She laughed. "I don't know what you see in him."

"What do you mean?" Rogue asked confused, very confused.

The woman laughed again "You know I don't mean anything by it. Just you and I know that Gambit has some of his… well worse traits." She smiled a warm, sweet smile. "But it's good that at least someone can look past that." And on that note, the woman left, heading back to the Institute. Leaving Rogue standing by the gate, even more confused than before.

_What does she mean by that? Ah mean Remy is nice and all, but still…. Ugh… Ah really need to get my memories back… Well Ah might as well go look for Remy, but then again… It might not be good to ask him about what that lady had said. _Rogue started to walk back up to the Institute_. Maybe if Ah find Kurt, he'd be able to help._

Then suddenly the gate flew open as Rogue walked. She quickly turned and jumped into the lawn.

"Heh… Sorry Rogue!" Yelled a blonde girl, as she stopped the Jeep she was driving. "You ok girl?" she asked.

Rogue stood and brushed herself off. "Yea Ah'm fine…"

"Tabitha! Geez, you could have killed her!" cried a shorted girl, with longer brown hair.

"Nah. Rogue's got good reflexes, right?" asked the blonde girl, Tabitha.

"Uh… Yea Ah suppose Ah do. But anyway what are you two doing? Ain't it dangerous to go out?" Rogue asked, trying to sound sure of herself.

"Yea, but I had Amara with me." She told Rogue, swinging her arm around Amara's shoulders. "So I was playing it safe."

"For once…" Amara said.

Tabitha looked at Amara, then laughed. "So Rogue, you're getting all upset about us being out. So where were you? Cause when we pulled up you were walking back up to the Institute too." Tabitha asked, matter-of-factually.

"Ah was… Ah was just walking around. Ah didn't go outside the gate." Rogue responded.

"Ok, well now that we know what everyone has been doing… Can we please get back? I'm starving! And if we're late for dinner again, Wolverine probably won't let us eat at all." Amara asked.

"Yea, you're right… Let's go! You want a ride Rogue?" Tabitha asked, jumping in the driver's seat of the jeep. (A.N. And yes, that Jeep does just happen to be Lance's.)

"Sure…" Rogue said, getting in the back. But the second she did, Tabitha slammed on the gas petal. The three were going at least 60, and Tabitha didn't let up on the gas. They got dangerously close to the building, when Tabitha suddenly slammed on the brakes and turned. Coming to a perfect parallel park next to building.

Rogue had to take a minute to re-adjust her self. "Where in the world did you learn to drive!" she screamed.

"I didn't" was all Tabitha said, before going inside with Amara. Once again leaving Rogue alone outside.

_Geez… Is everyone here just completely nuts?_ Rogue thought to herself before going inside, and into the dining room for dinner.

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Well that's it for now. Once again, I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. But hopefully now that things have calmed down here, I can get back to at least a weekly update.


	6. Ch 6: Harsh Tones

When Rogue, Tabitha, and Amara walked through the door, they were practically smothered by Remy, Kurt, Logan, and the goddess woman.

"Where have you three been!?" Wolverine growled.

"Yes, its dark out already, and you all know about the curfew." Storm added.

"But Ah just saw you a minute ago… If ya didn't want us outside, why didn't you say so when Ah saw you?" Rogue asked.

The woman chuckled a bit. "I didn't mean you Rogue. You're old enough to stay out, it's those two I'm worried about."

"Hey! Me and Amara were together! You know that whole buddy system thing?" Tabitha replied.

"Tabby cool it, ok?" Amara buzzed in. "We're sorry Storm, we were just out having a little bit of fun and lost track of time."

Storm sighed "It's ok girls, just don't let it happen again, ok?" the two nodded, and walked off towards the dining room with Storm.

"Well? What about you? What were you doing out?" Logan questioned Rogue.

"Like Storm said, Ah'm old enough to be outside after dark. So it shouldn't matter should it?" Rogue replied in a sassy tone.

Wolverine looked at confused, while Kurt and Remy were chuckling. They were stopped by Logan growling at them.

"Calm down, mon ami. Rogue might not remember much, but Remy's sure if she's in pinch she can handle herself." Remy told Logan. "Now, we don't we all go and eat?" He said walking off, followed by an upset Logan.

"Kurt… After dinner Ah need to talk to you, alone." Rogue told him.

"About what, meine Schwester?" Kurt asked.

"A lot of stuff, mostly stuff about Remy…"

"Oh… Gambit, understood. Well let's go and eat, then we can talk." Kurt said walking off, Rogue following.

They all sat down in the dining room. Everyone was eating, talking, and having a good time. Everyone except Rogue.

_It seems that things are just more and more confusing, instead of making sense. Ah guess Ah'll just have to wait, Ah mean really how long can some Professor be outta town? Plus what was the deal the deal with Logan earlier? He's never gotten so upset. It's like he thinks Ah'm gonna go out and get myself killed._

Rogue's train of thought was interrupted by a sudden feeling that she was being watched. She looked around, and made eye contact with Jean, whom had been starring at her.

_Rogue… Is there something you want to talk about? I can hear your jumbled and confused thoughts all the way down here._ Jean asked Rogue in her mind.

_No… Ah'm fine… But what all did you hear…_ Rogue questioned.

_Not much… Just your thoughts about Logan, and why he was worrying so much about you being out._ Jean replied. _Anyways, if you need to talk I'm here._

_Ok, thanks Jean… _Rogue said in thoughts. She looked away from Jean, and noticed that Remy and Kurt were starring at her now. "What? Is it national stare at Rogue day, or something?" She questioned the two.

"Non Cherè… It's just… Why were ya starring at Jean like dat?" Remy asked.

"She and I were talking… Is that ok?" Rogue replied in a harsh tone.

"Oui…" Remy said, hurt by Rogue's harsh tone. "It's just, don't ya find it strange? Dat ya and her were talking…"

"No… Why is it weird for you if me and Jean talk?"

"Non…"

"Rogue, if your done eating, we can talk…" Kurt said after an awkward moment of silence.

"Yea… Ah'm done…" she said standing up, and leaving. Kurt following quickly behind.

"You alright, Gumbo?" Logan asked Remy.

"Oui, it's just Rogue don't usually snap at Remy like dat… Even if she had lost her memories…" Gambit sighed.

"Heh… Don't worry about it so much. She's just confused, I'm betting that she didn't mean to snap at you like that. Just give her time, I'm sure soon she'll be back to her usual self. Though I'm still trying to figure out whether that's a good thing or not."

Gambit chuckled "Ya… Remy knows what ya mean."

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Sorry that it took so long to update, but there was the latest chapter. I hope that everyone can forgive me for taking so very long... I've just been having some issues lately, lol.


	7. Ch 7: Danger Room

"So what do you need to talk to me about?" Kurt asked, sitting on the chair in Rogue's room.

"A lot of things… But first off, Gambit." Kurt nodded his head, waiting for her to finish. "What's the deal with him?" she finished coldly.

"What do you mean 'the deal with him'?" Kurt asked.

"You know… His deal…" Rogue hesitated.

"Rogue… I'm not following… You're going to have to be more specific, Gambit has a lot of 'deals'… you could say…" Kurt replied.

Rogue sighed "You're right…. Well Ah just don't know… It seems like well, like he likes me or something… Ah don't know how to explain it…"

Kurt grew silent, causing Rogue to give him uneasy stare. After a long awkward silence, Rogue cleared her throat. "Um… Well… I think that maybe there are some things that are best for you to figure out on your own…."

Rogue gave him a questioning stare "Kurt… What do you mean? Is there something you know about me and Gamb--?"

"NO" Kurt replied hastily, cutting her off.

Rogue just stared at him, and there was another long awkward silence. "Whatever…." Rogue said, and began to leave.

"Rogue wait… I'm sorry… It's just; well you just need to remember some things on your own… Think of it as a Christmas present…"

"A Christmas Present?" Rogue asked, sarcastically

"Yea" Kurt said, cheerfully "You just have to wait to find out what it is. Anyway… I have to go; I'm scheduled for a session in the Danger Room."

"Danger Room? What's that?" Rogue asked, this time seriously.

"Yea, it's where we practice. Anyway like I said, Bye." Kurt said, walking out of the room. Rogue looked at after him, and nearly had a heart attack.

She backed up slowly and fell on to her bed. _Did that really just happen? No, no it's impossible… There's no way, no way! Is it possible that Kurt…? NO! No….. Maybe I could ask Remy; hopefully he ain't mad at me….._

Rogue ran through the mansion, looking for the Cajun. He was no where to be found though… Rogue continued to look, until she ran into Logan.

"Stripes… Why you running around?" Logan asked.

Rogue looked at him "Um… Ah'm… Ah'm looking for Remy…" she told him.

Logan stared at her for a moment "I knew I was right…" Rogue looked at him puzzled "Don't worry about it… Gumbo is in the Danger Room with Kurt." Logan said.

"Uh… Where is that?" Rogue asked.

"It's down in the basement… You can't miss it…" Logan told her, walking away. Not thinking anything of what he just told her. Rogue ended for the basement, and made her way through it. She entered through a door labeled: 'Danger Room'. Inside was the African Goddess woman.

She turned and smiled when she saw Rogue "Hello, have you come to watch Gambit and Nightcrawler? Surprisingly, they make a good team." She laughed "It's weird, isn't it?" the goddess woman turned back around to continue typing on the computer. Rogue approached the windows cautiously. She looked down into the room below, her eyes growing wide.

_It's… It's a fight!_ She thought to herself. Looking down Remy and Kurt were fighting something that resembled a giant robot. And once again, Rogue saw Kurt. _Ah don't believe it… Kurt… He really did disappear and re-appear! But then, where did Gambit go? _Rogue looked around, and saw Gambit jumping across rubble. Then he pulled some cards out of his coat. Rogue's eyes got even wider when she saw them glow. Gambit threw them, and they exploded. Rogue backed away slowly. Then she turned and ran out of the 'Danger Room'.

She kept running, until she was once again at the large gate outside. Rogue turned and looked at the mansion. _This is too weird, they're freaks… Ah bet all of them can do freaky things like Kurt and Remy… Ah can't stay here…_

Rogue put her hand to the scanner and the gate flung open. She stared out into the darkness, and ran. This time not stopping, or looking back…

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I know this chapter was kinda short, but basically I just wanted to get Rogue to see the wonders of the Danger Room. Lol. Anyway, I'll try to update soon! Please Review.


	8. Ch 8: Old Friends?

Rogue didn't stop until she was at least a mile or two from the mansion. When she finally stopped and got a chance to observe her surroundings, she noticed she was in a cemetery. She fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face.

"What's going on?!" she screamed to no one. She hit her fist to the mud. It was just then that Rogue realized it was pouring. "Why? Why can't Ah remember?" she said through her sobs.

"Rogue?" Rogue jumped at the voice behind her. She turned to see a girl, standing behind her with an umbrella. "Rogue? What are you doing out here?" the girl asked her. "Doesn't that Professor of yours have a curfew or something?"

Rogue rubbed her eyes to get a better look at the stranger. It was obvious that she knew her. "Ah… Ah…"Rogue mumbled. "Ah ran away…"

"You ran away from the mansion?!" the girl asked, surprised. "Why would you do that?"

"It's a long story…" Rogue said, turning from the girl.

She bent down and put a hand on Rogue's shoulder. "I know this is probably a bad idea, but you can come back to the Brotherhood house with me… At least for tonight, not like I'm trying to get you to join again or anything." She smiled.

"Really?" was all Rogue could say.

"Yea, I mean we're kinda friends ain't we?" Rogue nodded. "Good, then c'mon. This'll be fun to explain to the guys… But luckily Mystique is gone for the week. That'll make things a bit easier."

Rogue smiled "So what were you doing in the cemetery anyways?"

The girl looked a bit stunned at the questioned. "I don't know… I just kinda felt like taking a walk, and ended up there…" the girl smiled. Another 10 minutes past while the two continued to walk. "Well here we are, obviously. Now we just gotta get you inside without the guys freaking out or anything…" She grabbed Rogue's arm and pulled her in. They tried to rush upstairs, but were beat.

"Wanda! Where were you?! And…. And why the hell is she here?!" a boy with silver hair demanded.

The girl, Wanda sighed. "What do I have to tell you everything?"

"Yes" the boy said bluntly and smugly.

Wanda sighed again. "I'm so sorry…. I should've been a better little girl and told you where I went… I'm sorry big brother, can you ever forgive?" Wanda pleaded in a sarcastic, baby voice.

The boy rolled his eyes "Cut the act. I'm not in the mood for your sarcasm. All I really want to know right now is why Rogue is here?"

"Pietro! What's all the noise?" another boy called walking into the room. "Whoa… What is Rogue doing here?" asked the shaggy haired brunette boy.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out" Pietro told him.

Wanda started getting upset. "Would you do just shut up!? It's none of your business why Rogue is here. So back off." Wanda yelled, going upstairs dragging Rogue with her.

Once they were safely in Wanda's room, Wanda sighed. "Sorry about that, Rogue. But you know how those guys are…"

Rogue chuckled "Yea, Ah know what you mean." _No Ah don't…_ Rogue said in the back of her mind.

"Well, let's see if I have any clothes that will fit you, cause I doubt you wanna stay in those soaked clothes." Wanda said, searching through her closet.

Rogue walked over to the window, and stared blankly out into the rain. _Maybe this wasn't such a good idea… Wanda and Ah seem to be friends, but Ah can barely remember her…. Should Ah tell her?_

Wanda put her hand on Rogue's shoulder, snapping Rogue back into reality. "Are you ok?" Rogue nodded her head, and smiled. "Ok, well here are some fresh clothes. You change and I'm gonna head down stairs and talk to the idiots. Meet me down there when you're done, ok?" Wanda said, leaving the room.

"Ok" Rogue said, as Wanda closed the door. Rogue changed into the clothes Wanda gave her. She looked in the standing mirror. She was now wearing black skinny jeans, and a red long sleeve turtle neck sweater, but not one of those dorky ones a cute one.

"Wow, it kinda reminds me of my closet back home…" Rogue choked on the word home. "That's right, Ah ran away. That ain't my home, but it feels like it's supposed to be." Rogue said to herself. "Well Ah had better head down stairs…" She left the room and walked down the stairs. Rogue stopped at the last step, and listened. The others were talking and seemed upset.

"Wanda I know you want her to be your friend and what not. But what would drive you to bring her here?! She's dangerous!" Pietro told Wanda

"So what, I'm pretty dangerous too. But yet here I am. Besides Rogue IS my friend and she's definitely cooler to hang with then you idiots.

"Aww… That's hurts Snookums… Do you really think I'm idiot?" asked another male voice.

Wanda gave a light growl. "You… You're the village idiot of the village of idiots!"

The guys laughed, and then the laughter died. "But seriously Wanda, we have to be careful around her. She's an X-man and plus remember what happened last time she was here." Said another guy.

Rogue walked into the room, acting like she hadn't heard anything. "Hey guys."

"Hey Rogue" Wanda said walking over to her. "Do the clothes fit ok?"

Rogue nodded "Yea, they fit perfectly." She smiled.

Wanda glared over her shoulder at the guys. They shuffled a bit. "So uh… Rogue, what brings you here?" asked the shaggy haired brunette.

"Well Ah…" Rogue begun, but was cut off by Wanda.

"She came to hang out, remember I told you guys that."

Rogue was confused, but didn't say anything. "Yo, so what are we gonna do tonight anyways?" asked a greasy looking boy.

"I don't know…. We can always just watch TV." said a taller and fatter boy.

"Nah, we do that every night." Pietro said.

The room grew quiet. Wanda smacked her palm to her forehead, and shook her head. All while Rogue was awkwardly standing there. "Uh…" Rogue said, causing everyone to look at her.

"Uh… What?" asked Pietro.

"Uh… Why don't we play a game or something…"

"A game?" the boys said in unison, looking form Rogue to each other, back to Rogue.

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OMG! A game!? I love games.... They're so much fun. What game will they play? What will become of Rogue? When will the X-Men realize she's gone!? All these questions and more answered in the next thrilling chapter of Friends Are Forever! Hehe... I feel like a TV announcer.... Lol. Please review.


	9. Ch 9: Games

Hey guys! I know this is like my fastest update ever! But don't get too used to it, it probably won't happen often. I just had A TON of ideas floating around in my head for this chapter.

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"What kinda game are you thinking about?" asked the shaggy haired brunette.

"Ah don't know… something, anything really…" Rogue responded, shrugging her shoulders.

"Yo, I know!" the greasy boy called out "Why don't we, ya know, play hide and seek?"

Everyone looked at him curiously. "Hide and Seek? What do you think were 5 year olds, Toad?" Pietro asked.

"Ah think it's perfect!" Rogue said, causing everyone stare at her. "We can really get in touch with our inner child."

"Eh… Why not?" Wanda said with a grin.

"Fine…" Pietro said, crossing his arms "But one two conditions…"

"And what might that be?" Rogue asked

"One" he said holding out one finger "I get to choose the next game. And two." He held out another finger. "I ain't it!" he grinned

"Fine, but Ah ain't it either." Rogue asked

"Not it!" Wanda, Toad, and the fatter boy shouted in unison.

"That leaves you Lance." Wanda grinned.

"Fine!" he turned around and covered his eyes. "Oh but one more condition… NO powers" he said, starting to count.

"Ok" the group shouted and starting to hide.

"C'mon Rogue" Wanda said grabbing her arm. "Let's go."

"Where are we gonna hide?" Rogue asked, following Wanda upstairs.

"I'm not sure, but there's definitely more room up here, than down there."

The two searched frantically around upstairs, until they both decided to split up. Rogue went into one room, Wanda into another.

_Where to hide? Where to hide?_ Rogue asked herself in her mind. _Aha!_ She crawled into an air duct that was just big enough for her to move around in it. _No one will find me in here_. She continued crawling, until she was at another vent. Rogue peered into the room and saw Lance walking around, looking under, behind, and in everything.

"Gotcha!" He yelled. Rogue held her breathe, thinking he was talking to her. "Come on out Pietro." Then Pietro jumped off a shelve in the closet.

"Fine you found me… Whatever" he said folding his arms and leaving the room. Lance left too, in order to find everyone else.

Rogue kept crawling through the vents. _It sure is dirty in here, you'd think they hadn't turned on the heating or AC in ages_. Rogue came to a dead end, the only way out was down. _Great… And there ain't no way Ah can turn around either… _Rogue waited and listened. Finally after about 10 minutes.

"Rogue where are you!? Lance found everyone but you, so come on out." Wanda yelled through the house.

Rogue down and could see everyone standing around right under the vent. _Well here goes nothing…_ Rogue then climbed down the duct, and fell right in the middle of the circle.

Everyone jumped and someone let out a high pitched girly screech.

Rogue sat there laughing. "It's ok Wanda; you don't have to scream…"

"I didn't scream…"Wanda said, looking up to the vent where Rogue fell from.

Everyone looked around. "Sorry yo, that was me…" Toad said, shyly raising his hand.

Everyone looked from one another to Toad, to the vent. And then started laughing their heads off.

"How did you get up there?" Lance asked, after the laughter died down.

"Ah climbed into the vent in Wanda's room, and then went from there." Rogue said, dusting herself off. "Ok, so who's it now?"

"I think were done with Hide and Seek for now…" Wanda said. "There's no way anyone could find a better hiding place than that."

"Ok then, what's next?" Rogue asked looking at Pietro.

"Uh… I don't know, I kinda thought we'd be playing this longer giving me more time to think…"

"Smooth move there Pietro…" Wanda said shaking her head.

"Ok, well I saw on TV this game that these kids played. It's called Make the King/Queen laugh, or something like that…" Lance told the group. "Basically someone is the King or Queen and everyone else is their jester. And the jesters have to make them laugh."

"Sounds like fun!" Rogue said cheerfully. "Who's gonna be our Royalty first?"

"Oh me! Me! Come on!" Toad started shouting jumping up and down with his hand raised high.

"Ok fine…" Rogue sighed. "Lance you can go…"

"What?" Toad and Lance asked in unison. While Wanda, Pietro, Rogue, and the fat kid started laughing.

"Uh… ok…" Lance said, sitting down in an arm chair.

For the next half hour they all attempted to make Lance laugh. "Lance your no fun… You aren't laughing…" Toad complained.

"That's the point. Oh and by the way if I were the real King, you'd all be beheaded by now." He said with a smug grin.

"Ah'm starting to get tired." Rogue said, sitting on the floor.

"What of this game? Cause I am too." Pietro said.

"No, just tired. Like sleeping tired…" she yawned.

"Well, of course… Look at the time." Wanda said pointing to a clock.

"It's already 1:30! Geez… Well how about we put in a movie, and let it put us to sleep?" Lance suggested.

Everyone agreed and sprawled out on the floor and couches. After about an hour, everyone was passed out.

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That's chapter 9 hope everyone enjoyed! Please Review!

* * *

_Back at the Institute, about 8 hours_

"Hey has anyone seen Rogue?"


	10. Ch 10: The Search

_At the Institute_

Remy is pacing back and forth in the foyer, yelling in French. While Logan and Kurt are sitting on the steps watching him and thinking.

"Where could she have gone?" Kurt asked.

"Who knows, maybe she remembered something and went there…" Logan replied.

"Hey Gumbo!" Logan yelled over Remy, causing Remy to stop and look at him. "In English, you yelling in French don't help us at all.

"Sorry… Remy is just freaking out a bit… Ya know, Remy don't understand why she would get and leave like dat."

"Hello boys, why the long faces?"

"Storm" Logan jumped to his feet. "When was the last time you saw Rogue?"

Storm looked confused. "Rogue? Well I know she was in the Danger Room control room with me for a minute, when Gambit and Kurt were in session."

"The Danger Room? That explains it!" Kurt yelled, smacking his palm to his forehead. "C'mon we got to go!"

"Wait!" Storm yelled over the guys. "What is going on here!?"

Remy sighed. "Can we tell her?" Logan nodded grimly.

"Tell me what?" Strom asked, now even more confused.

"We'll tell you on the way, right now we gotta find Rogue." Logan said, grabbing storm's arm and running.

_In the City_

"Wait, so you're saying that Rogue has lost ALL her memories?"

"Pretty much, and I think because she saw Gambit and I in the Danger Room, she freaked and ran." Kurt told Storm

"Well, that would explain why she's been acting oddly. Who all knows about Rogue?"

"Just de four of us, oh and Beast…" Remy said.

"Well we have to let the others know! They could help with the search, and perhaps Jean could try getting some of her memories back."

"Look, right now the kid is scarred. I doubt she'd want a bunch of mutants, that she doesn't know chasing after her." Logan said.

"You know this seems very familiar…" Kurt said, staring out the window.

"What do ya mean?" Remy asked.

"It's just like the first time we were looking for Rogue, before she joined the team…" Kurt said.

There was a grim silence, then Logan slammed on the brakes. "The Brotherhood!" they all said in unison. Before Logan raced off towards the Brotherhood House, causing everyone to hold on for dear life.

After about 15 minutes of Logan's reckless driving, they were outside the Brotherhood of Bayville Boarding House. They rushed up to the door, and Logan started pounding on the door. It took a minute but finally, Toad answered.

He was rubbing his eye and holding the door. "What do you want?" He asked, then looked up at Wolverine. Toad screamed and slammed the door. Causing the rest of the Brotherhood and Rogue to wake up with a jump.

"TOAD! What's your problem?!" Pietro yelled.

Toad didn't say anything, he just shakily pointed at the door. Pietro walked tiredly to the door, and opened it.

"Hey bub." Logan said. Pietro slammed the door in Logan's face again.

"Guys… Don't freak out, but we're gonna die." Pietro said somewhat calmly.

"What are you talking about? Who's at the door?" Wanda asked, sounding annoyed.

"It's Wolverine…"

Rogue's eyes widened. "They're here? Oh no… They're probably looking for me…"

"Ya, they're looking for you. So why don't you go with them? Them maybe they'll leave us alone…" Toad said, hiding behind Blob.

"Wow, way to show an act of courage guys." Wanda said rolling her eyes.

Lance got up and opened the door. He stood there looking at Wolverine.

"Are you gonna slam the door on me too, bub?" Wolverine growled.

"Sure… If you want me to." Lance smirked.

Wolverine growled again. Remy then stepped between the two. "Look all we want is de femme back."

Lance looked back at Rogue, who was now standing with Wanda behind Lance. "Are you 'de femme'?" Lance asked, in the worst French accent ever.

"Uh… sure…" Rogue said hesitantly "Look, let me talk to them for a minute. Ah'll sort all this out." Rogue said, side-stepping Lance and closing the door.

They all stood there outside the Brotherhood House, staring at each other.

"Well?" Rogue asked, after an awkward moment of silence.

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dun Dun DUN! Lol. Well that's Chapter 10. You got to love cliffhangers. Though they're annoying, it's a for sure sign that the story MUST continue. Lol. Well hope y'all enjoyed, please review!


	11. Ch 11: COnfrontations

Everyone continued to stare at Rogue. They were all too astonished and confused to see Rogue at the Brotherhood of all places.

Rogue growing anxious "Look if y'all are just gonna stare at me, then Ah'm going back inside…" she turned to go inside.

"Wait!" Logan yelled, in a low growling tone. Rogue sighed and turned back around, crossing her arms. "Look… I know what it's like to lose all your memories, but that's still no excuse to go and run off."

"Monsieur… Aren't you always the one running off though?" Remy asked, in an innocent tone.

Logan growled at him "Can it, Gumbo!" Remy slowly took a step back, and shut his mouth. Logan turned back to Rogue, who looked even more annoyed now. "Rogue… This ain't right, and you know it."

"Ah don't know anything anymore…" Rogue replied grimly.

Logan sighed "Look just tell me, what made you run away?"

Rogue looked surprised. "Ah… Ah…" She couldn't make out a sentence. _'How do Ah tell him that Remy and Kurt are freaks? And that he'd be smart to avoid them also……'_ Rogue thought to herself.

"Stripes? You there?" Logan asked.

Rogue shook her head, trying to get rid of the memory. Then she looked up to Logan, who was still waiting her to say something. "Ah just needed to get outta there for a while… So when Ah was walking around, Ah found Wanda, or she found me…" she half-heartily lied, hoping Logan would believe her.

Logan stared her down for a moment, and then sighed. "So, you just went for a walk?" Rogue nodded. "Well if you're done with your walk, why don't you come home?"

Rogue didn't know what to say. Something inside her told her that Logan was like her father-figure. But she couldn't get over the fact of what she'd seen in the 'Danger Room'. _'What do Ah do… Ah can't just go back, can Ah?'_ Rogue thought to herself.

"Rogue?" Kurt asked, taking a step towards her. In result Rogue took one step back. She could see the hurt in Kurt's eyes.

"Ah'm sorry…" she said, tears swelling up in her eyes. "It's just things are so confusing and different… Ah'm not sure if Ah can handle all of that…"

"What are you talking about, Cherè?" Remy asked.

She looked up at Remy, but then quickly turned away. "Ah don't know…"

"Rogue, come back with us… And we'll figure this all out together." Storm said, extending her hand.

Rogue looked back at the door to the Brotherhood, where Wanda was now standing. "Rogue I'm not too sure what's going on with you or them… But you're always welcome here, even if the guys disagree." Wanda smiled.

Rogue thought it over for a minute. Then she looked up to Storm "You'll answer ALL my questions?"

Storm nodded "To the best of my ability." She smiled.

Rogue sighed "Ah'll go with y'all, but if Ah sense anything going on Ah'm outta there. And that doesn't mean Ah'll come back here where you can find me."

Remy walked up to Rogue and put his arm around her shoulders. "It's alright, Cherè. We ain't da bad guys." He grinned.

Rogue removed his arm from around her, she turned and waved to Wanda, and then followed Logan and Storm to the X-van.

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I know this is probably my shortest chapter, but the next one will be longer. I just sorta couldn't think of what to write, sorry. Please review, and stay tuned for the next chapter, lol.


	12. Ch 12: Understandings

One everyone was safely back at the Mansion; Logan led Rogue into the living room area, and then left her. She was sitting alone in the big empty room, just staring outside the window at the rain.

'_This is just great… Ah probably ticked them off or something, now they're probably trying to figure out what to do with me… No, that Storm lady said that she'd answer my questions. But that doesn't mean she was for real… This is just great…'_

"Logan what we are going to do? She doesn't trust us anymore…" Storm asked Logan, concern plastered all over her face.

"I'm not sure…" Logan replied solemnly "The original plan was just to keep her content until the Professor returned… But now, the best we can do is try to explain things to her."

"Are ya sure dat's a good idea?" Remy asked, twirling a card between his fingers. "What if Rogue freaks and tries ta run? She already said dat wouldn't go back ta de Brotherhood."

"Gambit's right, if anything we should find out why she ran away in the first place. Then once we know that we can explain it to her." Kurt added.

"I ain't sure she'll go along with it that easily… But let's go and at least try…" Logan turned and opened the door.

Rogue scrutinized them as they walked in. "It took y'all long enough…" she turned back to staring out the window.

"Ok stripes… We know you're not happy with us right now, but all we wanna know is why you ran off?" Logan asked leaning against the window sill, looking at Rogue with intense eyes.

Rogue looked up at him, but didn't say anything. She broke her stare from Logan's to stare at the floor. After a minute she finally replied. "Aren't y'all supposed to answer my questions, not the other way around?" she said coldly.

Storm sighed "We will Rogue, but we know a few things first to help us understand what you're going through tha—"

Rogue cut her off. "Understand what Ah'm going through!? How could any of this help you understand me!?" Rogue shouted, tearing beginning to stream down her face. "Ya really wanna know why Ah ran off!? Well!?" Rogue paused to angrily wipe her tears. "Its cause Ah saw what y'all were doing here! Those two…" Rogue pointed to Remy and Kurt. "Those two were using some kind of freaky powers and destroyin' things in that room! Ah ain't sure what exactly it was, but Ah do know Ah don't feel safe!" Rogue broke down; she couldn't handle the immense pain surging through her body. All her mixed emotions were rushing to her head, making her head hurt.

After a few minutes of silence, Logan put his hand on Rogue's shoulder. But she quickly swatted it away. He could see the pain she was in, and why not? Out of everyone in that room Logan knew the best of what she was going through. The only difference was that she a young girl; she couldn't handle it as well as he could.

Logan turned his attention to Storm, she nodded. Then she motioned for Kurt and Remy to follow as they left the room. Once Logan was sure they weren't listening in, turned back to Rogue.

"Rogue, ya gotta listen to me ok?" Logan told her, a certain fatherly concern laced his tone. "I know you probably won't believe me, or don't wanna hear it… But I know what you're going through."

Rogue looked up to him, her cheeks red from the tears "How could you possibly know what Ah'm going through?" Rogue said harshly. Logan was right; she really didn't want to hear any of it, she just wanted to be alone.

Logan sighed, frustrated that he wasn't getting through to her like he used to. "Because I've been there. I ain't got all of my memories either. I don't know what happened, and I probably never will… But I'm gonna keep searching, and so are you."

Rogue's tone softened, but was still shaky from the sobs. "So that's what Remy meant… When he said he doesn't want me ended up like you…"

"Yea… But don't worry ya won't end up like me. Cause we're gonna find out what caused ya to lose your memories, and we're gonna get them back… I can promise you that."

Rogue smiled, but that wasn't enough to keep the tears back. She was still overwhelmed but it soothed her to know someone understood. It took her awhile to muster up the strength to speak. "Thank you Logan…" Rogue told him through the tears. Logan smiled, and patted her on the shoulder. It wasn't exactly as comforting as a fatherly hug, but somehow Rogue knew. She knew Logan; from her past that this is his way of showing affection and that he wasn't the one for hugs.

Logan somehow seeing what she was thinking, took her and embraced her. This taking Rogue completely by surprise threw her arms around him. Knowing that she could always count on Logan, her father figure.

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Wow... I totally forgot about this until one of my friends reminded me... Oppsies... Sorry about that guys. Well, that's chapter 12, and this time I promise it won't take my a month to update. Please review, and forgive me!


	13. Ch 13: Examination, and Anticipation

"Logan?" Kurt asked hesitantly, popping his fuzzy blue head through the cracked opened door. "Is it ok to come in now?"

Logan looked to Rogue, who nodded and then turned to look out the window once more. "Yea, come on in, Elf. And bring Gumbo in too." Logan replied.

Kurt opened the door fully and walked in, Gambit close behind. "So what exactly did we miss, will ya two were talkin'?" Remy asked, cocking an eyebrow. (AN: The questioning one… Not the 'I'm a flirty Cajun' one).

"Y'all didn't miss anything; Logan and Ah were just talking." Rogue said in an almost emotionless tone.

"Brighten up Stripes. What I told ya those two would and will do the same." Logan said, smiling. Logan personally liked the new way how Rogue was treating Gambit.

"Wait, what are we doing?" Kurt asked, confused by the tone of Rogue's voice and Logan's triumphant smile.

"That you two will help me get her memories back…" Logan replied.

"Oh, well duh. Of course we will help, I've been telling Rogue that ever since she first lost them." Kurt said, grinning.

Rogue looked at Kurt and smiled. "Thanks guys, but there's only one thing Ah don't get…"

"And what's dat, Cherè?" Gambit asked.

"Y'all keep saying your gonna help me… But how exactly are we gonna do this?" Rogue's question caused the room to go silent, as Logan, Kurt, and Remy al exchanged glances.

After a few awkward minutes of silence "We don't know for sure…" Logan said "I guess we can have Hank run some tests, and go back to Plan A."

"What's Plan A?" Kurt asked.

"Remy's pretty sure Plan A is ta still wait fer de Professor ta come back… Right, Monsieur?" Remy answered.

"Exactly Gumbo. The Professor should be back in a couple of days, until then we'll have to make do. So Elf, pop down and tell Hank what exactly happened with Stripes, and brief him what we need him to do."

"Gotcha!" Kurt said, and then vanished into a puff of smoke.

Rogue jumped back a little in surprise. It was then that her expression changed from surprised and confused, to angry. "Hey!" she screamed, causing Remy and Logan to stare at her. "Y'all promised that when we got back here, that you would explain everything to me! And so would you care to tell me what the heck that was!" She yelled, pointing to the spot where Kurt 'poofed'.

Remy and Logan shared a glance "Look Cherè, it's gonna take a while fer us ta tell ya ta whole story…" Remy said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Rogue crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him "Well then ya better get started, shouldn't you?"

"It's got something to do with possessing a certain "X-Gene", it's a gene normal humans lack but it gives Mutants abilities. And that's what we are, mutants." Logan told Rogue quickly and bluntly. "Now let's go." He said grabbing her arm and dragging her down to the lower levels of the mansion.

On the way down to the lab, Logan told Rogue more about her and the x-men. "So wait your saying if Ah made skin contact with you, Ah'd absorb your memories, and powers?" Rogue asked, staring at her bare hand.

"Dat's de idea, Cherè." Remy told her. "Dat's why yesterday Remy told ya ta put on a jacket. If ya woulda walked around wit nothin' covering yer arms, everyone woulda known sometim was up."

Rogue looked like she was going to cry again, but once she noticed the tears building up she blinked them away. _'No, Ah'm not gonna cry anymore… Ah'm gonna stay strong and get through this…' _Rogue listened to herself think, she seemed more confident than she actually felt.

"Stripes?" Logan asked, causing Rogue to snap back to reality. "You ok, you haven't said anything for a while…"

Rogue ran her hand back through her hair "Ya, Ah'm fine… Ah was just thinking…" she smiled.

"Well, ya will have ta dink later, cause we're here…" Remy said, opening the door and moving his arm in a sweeping manner, trying to seem like one of those fancy door opener people. Rogue rolled her eyes, and smiled at smiled at Remy, as she walked in.

"Aah… Rogue we've been waiting, how do you feel?" asked a ape like man with blue fur, like Kurt's.

"A-ah…" Rogue stammered.

"Oh yes that's right…" the ape-man cleared his throat. "My name is Hank, but I'm also called Beast. Remember?"

Rogue put her hand to her head. "Beast…Beast…" she said to herself trying to remember, than looked up. "Mr. McCoy? Right?"

Beast smiled "Yes, that's me. Now Rogue if you please lay on the table." He said, walking over to a big computer. Rogue hesitantly hopped up on to the table. "Don't worry it won't bite." Beast chuckled, and then he turned his attention to Remy and Kurt who were standing in the back of the room. "Kurt, Gambit why don't you two go inform Storm of the current status, and besides don't you both have a Danger Room session scheduled soon?"

Remy and Kurt exchanged a glance and sighed. "Fine, but if you need anything just call, ok?" Kurt said. When Beast nodded, Kurt and Remy left the room.

"What about me? Do you want me outta your way Hank?" Logan asked, ready to turn and leave too.

Beast lifted a hand, stopping him. "On the contrary Logan, I want you to stay her and keep Rogue calm." Logan gave him a questioning look, and then turned to look at Rogue.

Logan smiled "Hey stripes. 'Ya look more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rockin chairs' " Logan said, trying to mimic Rogue's southern accent.

Rogue let out a chuckle "Ya know Ah actually remember that." She smiled.

"Well then…" Beast said walking over to Rogue with some sort of helmet in his arms. "Shall we get started?" Rogue stifled a nervous chuckle. "Great, let's begin."

For the next 6 hours, Beast and Logan preformed a number of physical and mental tests on Rogue, trying to find the source of her amnesia. But all their tries where in vain, there didn't appear to be anything blocking Rogue's memory, and there wasn't any abnormalities in her Temporal Lobe. (A.N. Yes, I actually learned something in biology, the Temporal Lobe controls the memory; I feel so smart!)

After about another hour, Beast sighed. And gave Logan a grim look. "It doesn't look good Logan, not good at all…"

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MWHAHAHA another cliffhanger, hahaha. Lol. I love this its so fun! Well stay tuned, lol.


	14. Ch 14: Past Memories

"It doesn't look good Logan, not good at all…"

Logan growled "What does that mean exactly?"

"It means I haven't been able to find anything wrong with her mentally, or physically. It's almost like she never lost her memories." Beast sighed "There's absolutely no proof of anything being wrong with her."

"So then, what are we gonna tell her?" Logan said, gesturing to the room where Rogue was still sitting on the examination table. "That it's all in her head, and she's just imagining not remembering?"

"I don't know Logan. I've never come across anything like this before. Perhaps we just need to wait for Charles to get back."

"Yea, but he's off helping out with Juggernaut. He could be gone even longer if something goes wrong, and then what?" Logan questioned frustration in his voice.

"I know, but we don't have a choice. Plus, she's been through enough for tonight. I'll continue testing for anything tomorrow." Beast reasoned.

Logan let out a low growl and walked past Beast into the examination room. When Rogue saw him come in, she practically jumped off the table. "Did he find anything? Do you know what's wrong with me?" Logan shook his head solemnly. Causing Rogue to sigh in grief. "So do you and Beast at least have an idea?"

"No, we don't have a clue what to do. The only thing we can do is keep looking and wait for the Professor. But don't worry, we won't keep testing tonight. You've been through enough, and right now all you need to worry about is getting to your room and sleeping." Logan told her, in a familiar tone. Rogue smiled to keep the tears from flowing down her cheeks.

She nodded and stood up off the table. "Okay, thanks Logan." She began out of room, only stopping to thank Beast. Rogue walked up the grand staircase to the second floor. She walked down the hallway that led to her room. _'After everything, they still care about me. Ah can wait a while for them to figure everything out.'_ Rogue walked into her room, took a quick shower, and went to sleep.

"What is this? Am Ah dreaming? A black helicopter… That's me…"

Once again Rogue could see herself, except this time there wasn't a gazebo overlooking a beautiful ocean and moon. She appeared to be in the desert, Egypt?

"It's ok Ms. Leech, this is as far as Dorian has to go." Rogue knelt in front of the little boy. The boy seemed frightened as he gripped on to his mother. "Please don't be scared. Said the ability you have to shut down energy around you, it'll help save a lot of people. Ah'm just gonna borrow it for a while." Rogue took off the glove "Are you ready?" The boy nodded as Rogue leaned forward and put her bare to his cheek. The boy fainted and Rogue stood up. Looking over to a man with an eye patch, they nodded at each. Then a blonde haired boy took and they jetted off towards the pyramid.

Everything went black… _"What was that? What am Ah?"_ Rogue asked herself looking at her hand.

"This is of my doing…" said a familiar voice. Rogue quickly turned around.

"Who are you? Where are you...?" Rogue asked, looking around for the owner of the voice.

"You know quite well Rogue." The voice said, before laughing manically.

"Wait, you're the one who made me black out the other day… And you're the one that showed me the memory of Kurt and Ah on the gazebo… Aren't you?" Rogue asked.

"Yes, and if you join me I can show all of what you have lost… Your family, your life, and your memories, all of which I can return to you…"

"But how, how could you possibly return everything?" Rogue screamed, anger fuming inside her.

"It's of no importance to you how. My power is mine alone… I will not share it with anyone, let alone you... Anna…" the voice disappeared but the echo of Rouge's name remained.

Rogue put her hands to her ears, trying to unsuccessfully block out the sound. She let out a blood curdling scream. She barely opened her eyes in the midst of her screaming to see a figure hovering over her. Causing Rogue to scream again, and kicked the figure, making the figure fly into the wall from her force.

"Rogue!" Logan screamed as he kicked open her bedroom door. Rogue was now sitting straight up in her bed, staring at the limp figure against the wall.

The figure stood, as Logan turned on the lights. "Ow… Cherè dat actually hurt…" Remy groaned rubbing the back of his head.

"What's going on in here!" Logan growled angrily at Remy.

"Rogue was screaming in her sleep. So Remy came in and tried to wake her up and dat's when she kicked me in ta da wall." Remy calmly explained.

Logan looked over to Rogue, who was hugging her knees up to her chest. "Stripes, are you ok?" Logan asked.

Rogue looked up to him, and sighed. "Yea… Ah'm fine… Ah just had a bad dream…" Rogue sighed again and smiled a bit. "Ah'm ok, really Ah am. Like you said, Ah just need to sleep."

"Yea… But de whole sleeping ding didn't seem ta work de first time." Remy said.

Logan growled to himself. "Ok Rogue, if you say your ok, then I'm gonna go. You need your sleep." Logan smiled. Then he turned his attention to Gambit, and his smile vanished. "As for you, Bub. You ain't staying in here, I don't trust you. So let's go." Logan grabbed Remy's arm and pulled him.

Right before Logan shut the door; Remy yelled back something about to sleep peacefully or something like that. Once Rogue was alone, she got out of her bed and walked over to the vanity. She carefully studied herself. "What did Ah do in my dream to that little boy?" she quietly asked herself. Rogue touched her hand to the mirror "Better yet, who was that in my dream. It was the same voice from before, and Ah know I've heard it some where before that too…" Rogue walked back over her bed, and lay down. "Ah just need to sleep, like Logan said… We'll figure this all out…" Rogue yawned and within the next five minutes, she was asleep. No voices or past memories haunted her this time, this time she slept soundly and peacefully…

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That's chapter 14... I'll try to keep updating at least once a week, but if I don't, please don't be mad. Once summer vacation starts I'll be able to update once a week for sure. But until then please review!


	15. Ch 15: Testing

Rogue awoke that next morning in a daze. Sure she'd slept pretty soundly, but the moment her eyes opened everything came rushing back. The testing, the dreams, the voice and his promise…. Rogue groaned as she sat up in her bed. _'What am Ah gonna do? Should Ah tell Logan about the voice?'_ Rogue shook her head and got up. _'No, it's probably better if Ah keep quiet about it until Ah can talk to him again…'_ As Rogue got ready, she continued to think about the voice in her head.

"No, Ah am just gonna forget about it… Right, now Ah just need to go and find Beast." Rogue told herself, trying to sound surer then she actually was. She brushed her hair through once and opened the door.

Remy was standing there, his hand raised as if he was about to knock on the door. "Well, good mornin Cherè" Remy smiled. "Remy was wondering how long ya were gonna be."

Rogue rolled her eyes "Well Ah'm ready now, so what do you want?" Rogue said in a tone that was harsher then she meant.

Remy didn't seem phased by her tone. "Well, Remy jus came ta get ya. Logan and Beast are waitin fer ya in de lab."

Rogue sighed "Yea yea… Ah know… Ah'm going…"

"Ya ok, Cherè?" Remy asked.

"Ah'm fine… Just got a lot on my mind…" Rogue told him, hoping he would accept that answer.

Unfortunately, he didn't. "Dat ain't it, is it? Dere's more ta it den yer telling us…" Remy said as more as a statement then a question.

Rogue nodded anyways "Yea… There's a lot more, but Ah think it's one of those things Ah need to figure out on my own."

Remy grabbed Rogue's arm and spun her around so she was facing him, taking Rogue completely by surprise. Remy looked at her, worry in his expression. "Remy knows what ya mean by dat, but I jus want ya ta know… Dat if ya ever need ta talk ta someone, Remy will dere fer ya." He told her sincerely.

Rogue couldn't help herself; she flung her arms around Remy's neck. Engulfing him in an embrace. She tried to hold back the tears as she told him "Thank you, Remy."

It took Remy a second to take in what had just happened. Even before she had lost her memories she never showed Remy any affection like this. After a second or two, he returned the embrace. He looked down to her, and then he felt his face getting hot. He'd somewhat forgotten what was going on at that moment. He half stepped back out of Rogue's arms, and turned to look away. He cleared his throat "So… uh… should we go den?" he asked, walking around Rogue.

Rogue smiled, though Remy tried to hide it, she saw him blushing. She stood there a moment. _'Remy is so funny…' _After that she ran to catch up with Remy, who was walking extra fast trying to cool down.

Remy saw in the corner of his eye, Rogue catch up to him. But by the time she did Remy knew the pink had left his cheeks. They walked down to the lab in silence, but it wasn't an awkward silence; it was nice.

When they finally got to the lab, Wolverine and Beast were already waiting. Logan jumped up from his seat. "What took you so long Gumbo?" Logan growled.

Remy seemed flustered, not knowing what to tell Logan. "It was my fault." Rogue said, saving Remy. "Ah took too long to get ready."

Logan didn't seem that convinced, but didn't say anything. "Ok… well let's get started." He said, walking over to Beast.

"Ok." Rogue said, walking over to the table. She looked over her shoulder at Remy, who was still standing in the doorway, and smiled.

"Well… What are you looking at? Go on, get." Logan told Remy, and shut the door.

"Rogue hop up on the table, we're gonna start where we left off yesterday." Beast told Rogue, while typing in data on a computer.

Rogue did as told and lay on the table. _'Great another day of these endless tests…'_ Rogue thought to herself.

'_It doesn't have to be this way…'_ Rogue's eyes widened, it was that same voice. She quickly looked over to Beast and Logan. They didn't seem to notice her. _'You can get in my head when Ah'm awake?' _ Rogue asked the voice in her head.

The voice laughed _'Of course my dear. Did you think I was only a figment of your dreams?'_

'_Well kinda… Ya know you constantly entering my mind and dreams isn't helping me any…'_ Rogue said in her best mental sarcastic tone.

The voice laughed again, his laughter cold and brash. _'Who ever said I'm here to help and make things easier? As long as you remain on their side, I will continue to be a bother to you.'_

"Great…" Rogue rolled her eyes.

Logan walked over to her. "What was that Stripes?" he asked.

Rogue turned and looked at Logan "You heard that?" she said dumbly.

Logan chuckled "Of course I heard that, I was standing like a foot away from you."

Rogue stifled a nervous chuckle. "Well, are you ready?" Beast asked. "We have a lot to do, and not enough time to do it."

Rogue nodded. "Excellent, then let's begin." Beast told her.

They started at 8:30 in the morning and by the time Beast finally let Rogue go it was almost 10 at night. Rogue went to her room and fell onto the bed. "Ah hate this…" she mumbled with her face in her pillow.

Rogue didn't bother to change or anything; she just positioned herself and covered her head with the blanket. It only a second before she was out like a light…

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Yay! I remembered to update! lol. I think this is going pretty well... But it only matters what y'all think, so please review! ;)


	16. Ch 16: Nothingness

There was nothing, no structure, no light, and no ground. Rogue stood there, alone. Everything was so dark she couldn't see her hand an inch away from her face.

"Where am Ah?" she asked herself out loud. "Am Ah dreaming? Or is this for real? Hello!" Rogue yelled into the nothingness. "Is anyone there! Can anyone hear me!" She continued to yell in vain. No one was there, no one could hear her.

Rogue was becoming frantic "Ah gotta get outta here. But which way is out?" she asked herself. She hesitated for a moment before taking a step forward. When her foot touched the blackness. Then, there was a piercing bright, white light that cracked its way through the dark. Until the blackness shattered, like dropping a piece of glass. And when the blackness shattered, Rogue fell.

Everything was white now. Looking around she could see shards of blackness falling beside her. She fell for what seemed to be an eternity. Rogue was completely helpless; there was nothing she could grab onto to stop her falling. She'd just have to wait until she hit the bottom of where ever she was. And she did.

Rogue hit the bottom with such a force it would've killed someone. But for some reason she wasn't dead. There was just a sharp pain that ran through her entire body. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, and looked around. There was still nothing, not even the black shards.

"Cherè… Cherè… Where are ya?" Rogue's face lit up when she heard the familiar Cajun's voice.

"Remy! Ah'm here! Where are you?" Rogue called back into the nothingness.

"Cherè!... Rogue?" Rogue could hear his voice calling for her, but couldn't see him anywhere.

Rogue could feel her eyes tearing up; if it was because of Remy's voice or the pain she didn't know. "Remy!" she screamed.

"Rogue! Rogue, where are you!" Rogue could hear Kurt's voice now. "Gambit, have you found her!" Kurt called out to Remy.

"Non, Remy can't find her anywhere. Do ya dink dey took her?"

"I'm not sure, but we have to keep looking!" Kurt replied.

"Kurt! Remy! Ah'm here…" she yelled. "Ah'm here…" her voice cracked as a tear flowed down her cheek, and off her chin. The tear hit the ground and the nothingness rippled. She looked up and could see Remy and Kurt. Rogue jumped up, ignoring the pain, and ran over to them.

But when she reached out for them she was stopped. Like she'd hit an invisible wall. Rogue pounded her fist against the wall, which cause caused it ripple a bit, but didn't ultimately affect it. "Guys, Ah'm right here!" Rogue screamed, while she continued to bang on the wall.

After a minute or so, Rogue backed away. "What's going on, Ah can see them and hear them… But…" Rogue shook her head. Then the pain overwhelmed her, and see fell to her knees. She sat there groaning in pain, but her eyes never left the wall where her friends were.

_Friend… The term did seem distant…Friends… And what does it meant to be one... Did Rogue truly know what it meant to be someone's friend? To have someone care for you… To have someone be there for you…? _

Rogue crawled towards the wall, while the words literally floated around her. Constantly, smacking into her, like it was there job to stop her. But Rogue kept crawling she reached out and could almost touch the wall.

Then something hit her. It flung her off to the side. Rogue held her side, she was in more pain then anyone could imagine. It was liked whatever hit her, seemed to burn into her. She rolled over on to her back and looked up at the nothingness and the lost term, as it still floated about. Rogue turned her head and could see Remy and Kurt through the wall. She smiled, and then everything went black…

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I know this chapter was a bit short, and probably really confusing but it'll make sense soon ( I hope ) lol. Anyway, I'll try to update soon, but until then please review! It's your guy's comments and reviews that keeps this story going! ;)


	17. Ch 17: Amahl

Rogue awoke expecting to be safe and warm in her bed. But she wasn't, she was still in the vast nothingness. Rogue lay on her back looking up the words, the lost terms, they had disappeared. She turned her head and looked over, not even the wall that showed her friends was there anymore. Rogue turned and looked back up, she didn't say anything. She just laid there, an expressionless look on her face.

"_Has it broken your spirit, my little absorber?"_ asked a familiar, haunting voice.

Rogue didn't jump up, or look shocked; she just turned to look at where the voice was coming from. She didn't see anything, except for the vast nothingness. She turned her head and looked up again. "No… My spirit isn't broken…" Rogue said. "Ah'm just tired… Tired and confused…" her voice was just above a weak whisper.

"_Good… If you're tired then you can't fight back." The voice taunted her. "Now my sweet, what confuses you?"_

"Are you seriously asking me that? Isn't it obvious?" she questioned, but there was no reply. "Everything is confusing me. Where Ah am, what's going on, who you are… Just everything…"

Then out of the nothingness appeared a man. Rogue turned to look at him. He was tall, an athletic build, and perfectly tan skin. His eyes were as dark as night, but as bright as the stars. His dark hair fell around his perfectly chiseled face. All in all, he was one of the most handsome men Rogue had seen, or at least as she remembers.

Rogue's eyes widened. "Who… Who are you?" she asked the man.

His lips curled up into a half smile. "My name is Amahl Farouk." He replied, his voice as smooth as butter.

"Amahl Farouk?" Rogue repeated, Amahl nodded. "How…"

Amahl cut her off. "How did I get here?" Rogue nodded. "I have been here for ages, longer than I care to remember." He walked over and helped Rogue up.

Rogue was dizzy on her feet, but managed to stay standing. She looked up to Amahl, he was at least a good 4 inches taller than her. "Well then…" she managed to say after a moment of silence. "If you've been here for so long, then do you know what this place is?" she asked him.

"It is called the Astral Plane" Amahl replied coolly.

"The Astral Plane? What's that exactly?"

"It's a plane of existence. Think of it as a spirit world almost."

"Does that mean Ah'm… dead…?" Rogue choked on the word.

Amahl let out a small deep chuckle. "No, you're not dead. You've just traveled to this plane somehow. Many great and powerful telepaths have this ability to project the Astral Plane."

"But Ah'm not a telepath… So that doesn't explain how I got here… Wait a minute." Rogue looked at Amahl, with scrutinizing eyes. "How did you get here then? Are you a telepath?"

"I am, but that's not how I got here." Amahl's eyes glistened with sorrow. "I was trapped here by an evil man. I apparently got in his way, and I ended up here. And I haven't been able to escape."

Rogue's eyes softened as she saw the great sorrow in Amahl's eyes. "This evil man, who was he?" Rogue asked.

Amahl looked away "His name is Charles Xavier…"

Rogue's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. "Charles Xavier?" she questioned, her voice frantic.

"Yes" Amahl looked back to Rogue. "Do you know him?"

Rogue nodded. "Yes, well… At least Ah think Ah do… You see Ah can't remember anything. But everything but at the Institute says that Professor Xavier would help me when he got back."

Amahl shook his head. "No, the only reason that man would help anyone is if he himself would benefit from it. Do not trust him, Rogue."

"But everyone there seemed so happy, and everyone was telling me how great of a man he is. And how he helped hundreds of mutants." Rogue told him.

"It's all lies, Charles Xavier isn't a great man. And all those people who were telling you this, well they're probably lost souls tangled in his web of destruction."

Rogue put her hand to her head "Ah'm so confused…"

Amahl took her hand from her head and held it between his. "Please, let me take you to my home. Here in the Astral Plane, telepaths can mold it to their liking. And I have re-created my home to the best of my ability. Come with me."

Rogue nodded and followed Amahl. They walked for what seemed to be forever to Rogue. Then it got hotter, as if they were walking through a desert. And they were, Rogue looked down to see sand beneath her feet. "We are here." Amahl said, startling Rogue. She looked up to see what looked to be an Egyptian palace.

It was amazing, the walls stretched more than twice the height of the Institute, and were at least as wide as the mansion. It was made of looked to be beige brick, with intricate designs in an orangish brick. There were towers and balconies, along with what looked like canopies on top of some of the towers. The entire building was breathtaking.

Rogue looked around as they walked through the front garden. The grass was as green as green could get. And scattered across the lawn were giant rose bushes, with roses of every color imaginable. There was a small stream with glistening, pure water; and a little white marble bridge going across it. Along the stream were tall water reeds and floating white water lilies. Following along the stream at the end was a small water fall going of the top some rocks.

"It's beautiful, yes?" Amahl asked.

"Yes…" Rogue muttered, still taken by the beauty of this place.

"Come" he put his arm around Rogue's shoulders. "If you like the outside, then you'll love the inside." Amahl lead Rogue through the courtyard and through the large white double doors.

Inside was like a dream, to beautiful to describe. It was just like the inside of an Egyptian Pharaoh's palace. The entire inside was white marble, with more intricate designs framing the walls in black. The main foyer was large with a grand staircase, with a smaller staircase curving out from either side. Up above was a crystal chandelier, which illuminated the entire room. Then around the room were various paintings and statues of scenery and men dressed in ancient Egyptian clothing.

"Wow… How did you do all this?" Rogue asked, continuing to examine her surroundings.

"I modeled it of the many palaces I'd visited as a boy in Cairo and throughout all of Egypt. It's nothing compared to the originals, this is just what I could remember of them. Now then, you must be tired. Shall I escort you to your chamber?" Rogue nodded and followed Amahl yet again. The rest of the palace was like the foyer, white marble with black designs; with paintings, and furniture furnishing the halls.

Amahl opened a door. "This will be your chamber while you're here. I hope it's to your liking. My chamber is just down the hall if you need to find me. Sleep well, my dear." Amahl said before leaving Rogue.

Rogue entered the room and closed the door. It reminded her of her room back at the Institute, except with an Egyptian flair. "Wow, all of this is too much to take in…" she told herself as she opened a door. It lead to a magnificent bathroom, where everything seemed to be made of either: gold, silver, or polished whit marble. She decided to take a shower before bed. The entire shower was made of solid gold. When she was down, she wrapped herself in a cotton bathrobe which was hung perfectly on the door. Walking over to the wardrobe, Rogue found: silk nightgowns, silk dresses, and silk robes. She slipped into a silk nightgown and climbed into the giant bed. She lay there in complete bliss. "What did Ah do to deserve this?" she asked herself, before falling asleep.

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I know there was a LOT of detail in this chapter, but I really wanted to give you guys the best image of Amahl's palace that I could. Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying the story. And as always, your reviews welcome.


	18. Ch 18: Untitled

Rogue slept the best she had in ages. There were no crazy dreams, no weird voices in her head; there was only the silent bliss. Rogue woke up and sat there on the giant bed. "This place is amazing." Rogue said to herself, as she fell on to her back and snuggled the silk blankets.

"Isn't it so?" The voice made Rogue jump; she looked over to see Amahl standing in the doorway with a tray. "I didn't mean to startle you; I just thought you might be hungry." Amahl said in his soothing, calm voice. He walked over and presented Rogue with a gold tray with crepes, and any filling you could ever imagine to put in one.

Rogue's eyes sparkled. _'What DID Ah do to deserve this?'_ she thought to herself. It took her a moment to realize that Amahl was awaiting a response. She snapped out of her thoughts. "Y-Yes… um Ah mean… T-Thanks Amahl…" Rogue said trying to sound as normal as possible, but ended up stuttering and having a nervous tone.

Amahl smiled "Then I'll leave you to your breakfast." he ended back towards the door. He stopped and looked back at her. "When you are done, feel free to join me in the courtyard." His kind eyes and smile was enough to make Rogue melt.

When Amahl closed the door behind him, that's exactly what Rogue did. She fell back again, just laying there. "He's so amazing… Ah couldn't imagine anyone at the Institute to ever do something like this…" and that's when it hit her. Rogue had totally forgotten about getting back home. She'd totally forgotten about her friends, her home, everything. All the thoughts went surging through her head. Though through everything going on in her head, one question seemed clear. Did she even want to go back?

"What am Ah thinking, of course Ah want to go back…" Rogue said, trying to sound convincing. "The Institute is my home, it's where my friends are, it's where everything Ah've ever known is…" Rogue got up out of bed. She walked over and step out on to the balcony. She had a full view of the courtyard from her room. "But this place… It's like a dream. And Amahl… After everything he's done for me, can Ah really just go and tell him that Ah want to go home? No… Ah couldn't do that." Rogue was standing there she could see Amahl sitting on a white marble park bench by the stream. "Ah've gotta talk to him…" Rogue told herself. She changed into one of the black silk dresses and left to go talk to Amahl.

* * *

Back at the Xavier Institute

"Wolverine, have ya found anything?" Remy asked, approaching an angry looking Wolverine.

"Does it look like I've found anything, Bub?" Logan replied in a snarl, he didn't just look angry, he was furious.

"Whoa… Easy dere, Logan. Remy was just askin'." Remy said, trying to calm him. Logan took a deep breathe and went back to digging through the rubble. "So den, does anyone ave even da slightest idea of who did dis?"

"No… I've asked everyone while taking a head count." Strom said as she floated down to Gambit and Wolverine. "Not a single person knows what happened or how. All I've gotten is that some of the students saw a bright white light and then fire." While Storm was talking Remy stood there, and Logan continued to dig. Storm walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder, causing Logan to stop. "Logan… You should know. When I took the head count there was one person not accounted for." Storm said in a tone filled with regret and sorrow.

Logan quickly jumped up and looked down to the Weather Witch who was practically on the verge of tears. "Rogue…" Storm nodded solemnly. Logan stood there in silence, looking out through the destroyed room. Of course, it was obvious. Rogue's room was the most destroyed out of the entire mansion.

"She was taken…" Logan said in a low growl.

"Taken? How can ya be sure?" Remy asked.

"I just know… There's no way that Rogue would run off if this happened. Someone, whoever did this, took Rogue with them."

Storm stood "Well Logan, what should we do?"

"First things first, I gotta check on something. Then we'll get to step two…" Logan said, leaving the area. He dodged through all rubble, the crumbling walls, and made his way downstairs. Logan opened the large circular door, if there was one room that could survive anything it was this one. Cerebro might be the only to find Rogue, there was only one problem. The Professor was still out of town, and the only other telepath in the mansion was Jean.

Logan ran back upstairs. Storm and Remy were waiting for him at the top of the stairs. "You're going to use Cerebro, aren't you?" Storm asked.

"Ya got a better idea?" Logan replied in his usual low growl.

"But if de Professor is still gone, den who are ya gonna get ta use it?" Remy asked. "De only other one dat could use it is Jean. And didn't we say it's best not ta get her involved wit Rogue's memory loss?"

"Well I suppose the circumstances call for a different approach, Remy." Storm looked to Logan. "I believe Scott and Jean are with the younger students, out back."

"Then let's go…" Logan said, running past them.

* * *

Well this chapter was bit short, but at least I got back to Institute, lol. Leaving to cliffys in one chapter, oh snap! Haha I'll try to update as quickly as possible. And as always Please Review.


	19. Ch 19: Confessions

Logan, Storm, and Remy are all running through the rubble in attempts to reach the back lawn.

"Ok so explain did ta Remy. How exactly are we gonna get Jean ta use Cerebro, without lettin her know about Cherè's memory loss?" Remy asked as he jumped over a fallen support beam.

Storm was easily maneuvering through the rubble by ridding the wind. "It's simple; Jean won't read our minds because the Professor taught her to ask before invading someone's mind. So then all we have to do is tell her the truth."

"De truth? Do ya really dink dat telling her de truth will help de situation?"

"Not the complete truth, Gumbo. The truth that involves Rogue disappearing again. We'll tell Jean that and have her use Cerebro so that we can go and get her." Logan said, right as they reached the end of the rubble and walked out on the grass.

Jean and Scott were at the far end of the lawn, back where the mini forest begins. They were talking to the students when Logan finally walked up behind them.

"Ok… So no one lost control, then does anyone know what happened?" Scott asked the crowd, it was obvious that he was in a foul mood.

The students seemed a bit afraid, knowing that Cyclops was holding a bazooka behind each eye. Jean noticed their fear and cut in. "What Scott is asking is if anyone saw anything, anything at all. It would be really helpful if you guys told us." Jean said in a calming tone.

"Don't even bother, Red." Logan said, catching the telepath by surprise. Jean turned to see Logan standing there. "Storm already talked to all the students, all they know is that there was a bright white and then fire."

"Well maybe there's something that Storm missed." Scott said in a tone that obviously hinted at using Jean's telepathy.

Jean shot a glare at Scott, and then turned her attention back to Logan. "So was there something you needed Logan?"

"Yea… We need you to help us use Cerebro." Logan told her

Jean was about to respond, when she was interrupted by Scott. "Cerebro! Why in the world would you need to use Cerebro, now of all times?"

"Rogue-cherè has gone missin' again, mon ami." Remy said.

"Rogue's disappeared? Wonderful…" Jean rolled her eyes. "Yea, ok… C'mon. Scott, can you finish up here?"

"Yea, I'll take can of things here. You go help find Rogue." Scott kissed Jean on the cheek and then walked back over to the group.

Jean, Logan, Remy, and Storm all ran back to the mansion, and made their way to the Cerebro room. Cerebro was one of the only rooms that wasn't reduced to rubble in the incident. Jean walked over to Cerebro, and placed the helmet on her head. Everyone stood in silence as Jean probed the brainwaves of mutants world-wide. After what seemed to be an eternity, Jean finally removed the helmet from her head and set it down. She stood and turned to face her fellow X-men. There was something troublesome in her eyes, and she looked herself looked troubled and worried.

It was Logan who broke the deafening silence. "Well, where is she!" he growled, annoyance in his tone.

Jean solemnly shook her head. Jean inhaled deeply, before lifting her head and looking Logan in the eye. "I can't find her… There's no trace anywhere of her appearance. It's almost like she never existed…"

Jean's words struck everyone like daggers, paralyzing them.

* * *

The Astral Plane – Amahl's Palace

Rogue talked to herself as she slowly made it through the palace. She kept going over what she would say to Amahl. But everything she said didn't sound right. She stopped at the doorway that led to the courtyard, where Amahl was.

Rogue shook her head. "What am Ah doing? A-Ah can't do this." Rogue turned to walk away.

"Rogue? Is something troubling you?" Amahl's voice stopped Rogue dead in her tracks. She turned to see him standing behind her, a concerned look on his face.

'_There's no turning back now; Ah have to talk to him. But how much did he hear of me talking to myself?'_ Rogue thought to herself. It took Rogue a minute to realize that Amahl was still standing there, awaiting her reply. She took a deep breathe and looked into Amahl's dark, but shining eyes. "Amahl, Ah need to talk to you." Rogue finally said.

Amahl's expression changed from concern to curiosity. "Then shall we take a walk?" he asked gesturing to the white marble that circled around the courtyard. Rogue nodded a quick yes, and started ahead of Amahl.

They walked in silence for a long while, but it didn't seem to faze Amahl at all. Rogue finally broke the silence. "We need to talk…"

Amahl smiled playfully. "Yes, you already mentioned that, my dear." Rogue blushed at his response. Of course he knew they needed to talk, that was the whole reason they went on this walk in the first place. Amahl watched Rogue as she walked beside him, she seemed flustered. "Rogue, I think I know what we need to talk about."

Amahl's words snapped Rogue out of her flustered state of confusion and trying to find the right words. She looked up to him. "You do?" was all she could manage to mutter.

Amahl nodded, but he did not smile like usually. "You wish to return home… To your home… Isn't that so?"

Rogue looked away, and nodded slowly. "Yes… Ah love it here, Ah really do!" she looked back to Amahl, trying to convince him and herself. "It's just that… This isn't my home… Not my true home at least…"

"But how do you know where your true home really is?"

Rogue was taken aback by his comment. How did she know that the Institute was her true home? It's not like she could remember or not. Rogue sighed. "Ah don't know how to explain it… Ah just know that the Institute is my _true_ home." Rogue told Amahl, and as she said the words aloud she knew that the Institute really was home.

Amahl didn't say anything for a moment; he just continued to look into Rogue's greenish-grey eyes. Finally he looked away. "If that is what you wish…" Amahl said, and started walking again. "I must go and prepare some things, I will meet you back at the palace." He said as he disappeared into the distance.

Rogue was left alone on the white marble path. "What did Ah do?" she asked herself, out loud. "Ah really hurt him, Ah can tell Ah did… Maybe this was a mistake…"

Suddenly Rogue felt a presence, one filled to the brim with hate, anger, and despair. She frantically looked around, trying to identify the source of the presence. But there was no one around, there was only her alone. Rogue lowered her head in defense, her eyes continuing to dart back and forth. There was something wrong. Something very, very wrong going on…

* * *

Hey guys! I'm so so soooooooo sorry about the whole not updating in like two months thing... I know I said that once summer started I would update every week, but I'm a stupid teenager that went and got herself in MAJOR trouble with her parents. And in result of the major trouble, I got my computer and just about everything else taken away. So there was no way to access the internet. I'm really sorry, and I hope that y'all can forgive my stupidity. Also I hope that I can finish up this story before school starts up again. But I'm not making anymore promises, lol. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. And as always leave me your deepest most inner thoughts in a nice little review. ;)


	20. Ch 20: Figuring Things Out

Rogue stood frozen for a few minutes, not sure if she should stay put or keep moving. There was something about this presence, like she'd felt it before. But the question is where? Where would she feel something so dark, so hateful, but yet still had a tinge of sadness. And then it hit her, she had meet someone before with this same presence. The question was who; it had to be someone from her past.

So many questions buzzed through Rogue's head. She couldn't take it, the presence was smothering her. Rogue shook her head, and began to run. Rogue ran until she couldn't anymore.

"Why…. Why does it seem like Ah'm always running….?" Rogue asked herself, trying to catch her breathe. She looked up, and stood frozen yet again. She was standing exactly where she was before she started running. "How is that possible?" Rogue asked, looking around. She began walking, after a few minutes she arrived at the same location.

"Ah must be on a circular path… Ah'll just turn back and go to the palace." Rogue told herself, trying to sound reassuring. She turned around and the palace was no where in sight. Rogue began to panic, as she frantically looked around for the palace. She started to run in all directions, but the result was always the same.

Rogue ran until she collapsed. "Ah… Ah can't…" she said, lying on the ground. It was only a few moments until she passed out from exhaustion.

At the Xavier Institute

Jean, Remy, Logan, and Ororo all stood frozen in the Cerebro Room. No one had said anything for a long while; no one knew what to say.

Logan yet again was the first to break the silence. "What do you mean, like she never existed?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

Jean shook her head "I don't know, I can't get a trace of her anywhere. Even if she was…. Dead." Jean said, pausing at the word. "Even if she were, I would still be able to get a brief reading. But there's nothing, no traces, no mental readings, no Rogue…"

"Dat ain't possible!" Remy yelled. "Rogue ain't da kind of girl da just disappear like dat. Not without a reason…"

Storm put her hand on Remy's shoulder "Don't worry, Gambit. I know that we will figure all of this out." She soothed.

Jean nodded. "Storm's right. There as to be an explanation for all of this, we just have to figure it out."

"Dat's easier said den done…" Remy said, anger lacing his voice.

"Cool it, Gumbo. Fightin' among ourselves ain't gonna help Rogue any." Logan said.

Jean turned back to Cerebro "We have to think, is there anyone who would have a grudge against Rogue?"

"Rogue made quite a bit of enemies; she ain't your typical gal dat's friends with everyone." Logan said.

"That's true, but it would have to be someone powerful enough to eliminate all mental tracings of her. It would either have to be someone with the technology to block Cerebro, or a powerful enough telepath." Jean said, glancing back at Logan.

"Well there aren't too many telepaths that are that strong." Logan said, "And I can't think of any that would have a grudge against Rogue."

Storm crossed her arms. "What about Emma?" she asked, sounding annoyed.

Jean turned to look at Storm. "Emma Frost? True, she is an Omega level telepath, but I don't think she has anything against Rogue. Besides Emma wouldn't do anything that drastic without a plan or proper motive."

"Well den who else could it be?" Remy asked.

Logan shook his head. "The only other person I can think of is the Prof. And there's no way he'd ever do something like this."

Jean perked up "That's it! I can't believe we didn't think of that in the first place!" Jean said cheerfully, placing her hands to her temples

"Eh Red… Ya mind tellin' the rest of us your plan?" Logan asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"I'm contacting the Professor. He may not be able to come back early, but he might know who could have done this!" Jean explained.

Remy smiled "Jean, yer a genius!"

Jean stood quietly for a moment, making contact with Professor Xavier. Suddenly the room became completely white, Professor Xavier in front of them.

"Oh mon ... Qu'est ce que c'est?" Remy exclaimed, looking around.

Xavier chuckled. "I'm going to take a guess that was something along the lines of where are we. What you all are looking at is the Astral Plane, a separate plane of existence that can not be easily accessed. Now, Jean explained to me what happened; and that you all can't think of anyone who might have done this."

Storm nodded "Yes, Professor. Since Rogue's very existence is untraceable we believe it to be a telepath. Though we don't who…"

Xavier tilted his head. "I can think of only one, who might have had motives for this. And you, Ororo, I'm surprised you haven't thought of him yet."

Everyone turned to look at Storm. Storm exchanged glances with the others. "Professor, I don't know who or what you're talking about…"

Xavier's face became grim with concern. "Amahl Farouk… The Shadow King…"

* * *

Oh my... Well I've completely forgotten about this again... hehe... Sorry guys, I'm gonna try to keep the updates up. Maybe not as often as everyday, but hopefully once a week. And if I forget and don't update for another year or whatever, then I give you permission to yell at me, or send me a polite message kindly reminding me to update. ^^ Your choice! Anywho, sorry again... Please Review!


	21. Ch 21: Plans Begin to Unfold

Everyone looked from the Professor to Storm, and back. Everything was silent, as everyone awaited a response from either Storm or the Professor. Storm took a deep, shaky breathe, and exhaled deeply.

"Amahl…?" Storm finally said "How is that possible? You… You trapped him in the Astral Plane." She said frustration and hatred lacing her usual compassionate voice.

Xavier nodded slowly. "Yes, Ororo; I did trap Farouk in the Astral Plane. Though there were and are ways that he can still come to the physical realm. You know this…"

Storm nodded. "Yes, I know…" Ororo looked at the ground, blinking away tears that threatened to fall.

Xavier walked over to Storm, placing a hand on her shoulder. Storm looked up; it was like she could almost actually feel the Professor's caring hand. Storm smiled sorrowfully, as the Professor nodded in return. Xavier than turned back to the group. "Now, the first order of business is to find Rogue."

Jean spoke up "Professor, how can find Rogue if she's trapped in the Astral Plane? I'm not strong enough to keep all of us here."

Xavier shook his head, "No Jean, I want you all to find Rogue's body. Her physical body could not have been transferred to the Astral Plane. While you all find her body, I will search the Astral Plane for a trace of her."

"Yea, thanks Chuck. Though ya got any idea where her body might be?" Logan asked.

Xavier thought for a moment "You said that Rogue disappeared immediately following an explosion and fire, correct?"

Jean nodded "Yes, students saw a bright white light, and then a fire destroyed a large portion of the institute."

"Somehow Farouk must've entered into a host's body, caused the incident, and stole away with Rogue." Xavier explained.

Remy ran a hand through his hair, frustrated "And how exactly does dat help us find Cherè?"

Xavier looked at Gambit then to Storm "He would've taken her somewhere familiar to him. Somewhere where not many people go, and where he could feel secure enough to store her body."

Storm looked down at the ground, thinking. "Amahl… Where would he—" Storm stopped, she quickly looked up at the Professor. Xavier smiled and nodded to her.

"Well? Where are we goin'?" Remy asked

Storm looked over to the group, "We're heading to Cairo, Egypt."

In the Astral Plane ~ Amahl's Palace

Amahl paced back and forth in his palace. As he paced, the walls rippled with anger and frustration.

"That ungrateful little… She'll ruin everything… Since when does Rogue care about others?" Amahl shouted, his hands reaching up to grip his hair. "I'll have to do something, and quickly. If not then all my plans will be ruined."

Amahl let go off his hair, and walked over to his throne. He slumped in his throne, rubbing his brow. "Though what can I do? I can't block _all _of her memories, can I?" Amahl asked, hoping that something or someone would answer him. Though he never had hoped for this.

"So it was you…" Amahl's gaze shot up to see his intruder. His face twisted into something made of pure hatred.

"Charles Xavier…" Amahl barely whispered the words, before shooting up from his throne. "How dare you enter my palace? What do you think you're doing!" he shouted, his voice full of anger and hatred.

Xavier took a few steps forward. "I'm here for answers, though it seems you've already given me the answers I need." Xavier looked sternly at Amahl. "You erased Rogue's memories, kidnapped her and trapped her here, didn't you?"

Amahl stared at the Professor, unsure how to respond. He narrowed his dark eyes and nodded slowly. "Yes…"

Xavier took another step, "Why? I want to know why!" he said, his tone raising. Amahl stood there, silent. His thoughts whirling through his mind like a tornado. Xavier glared when he didn't receive an answer. "Well no matter your reason, you won't get away with it. My X-Men are on their way to Cairo right now, and they will stop you."

Amahl looked at Xavier, surprised. His expression softened, and a smile grew on his smile. This sudden change took Xavier by surprise, and in return caused him to take a step back. "Farouk…?" Xavier asked, concerned at the Shadow King's reason for smiling.

Amahl's smile grew into a twisted grin, as he began to chuckle darkly. His chuckling soon grew into full maniacal laughter. Xavier took another step back, thinking that Amahl must've lost his mind.

Amahl laughed and laughed, and then suddenly he stopped; turning his gaze to Xavier. His eyes were dancing with amusement and victory. Finally, he spoke, "They're heading to Cairo? How wonderful…" Amahl put a hand to his chin in thought; he averted his gaze to stare up at the ceiling. Stepping down from where his throne stood, Amahl began slowly walking towards Xavier.

Xavier stood his ground, as Amahl circled around him. "Yes… Yes…! I do believe that this will tie it all together. I was looking for an answer. Who would've thought it would come from the great Charles Xavier?"

Xavier watched as Amahl continued to circle around him. "What to you mean, you've been looking for an answer?" he asked, hesitantly.

Amahl stopped, so that he stood in front of the Professor. "You see, Rogue has been wanting to go _home_. Yes, I know I don't see why either. She says it's something about this not being her home. Although, now with this new information; I believe I can convince her otherwise." Amahl smiled. "I thank you, Charles Xavier."

Xavier's eyes widened in realization. "No…"

Amahl continued to smile. "Yes." He began to chuckle again.

Xavier turned to exit the palace, needing to go and warn his X-Men. Though when he tried to escape, he saw that Amahl had created an impenetrable wall of darkness all around the Professor. He was trapped…. With his X-men possibly leading themselves into a trap as well…

* * *

Hey guys, I really apologize about not updating. I'm doing my best, and if I don't update in the next two weeks feel free to email me and demand that I do. ^^ No matter what's going on, if someone writes me I'll drop everything and write, write, WRITE and then update! Well anywho, here's chapter twenty-one. I hope everyone enjoys it, and please remember to review! Thanks everyone!


	22. Ch 22: Beginning of the End

Astral Plane ~ Amahl's Palace

* * *

Amahl smiled to himself, amused that the great Charles Xavier would allow himself to become trapped so easily. With a shrug of his shoulders, Amahl walked forward, placing a hand on the dark wall that trapped Xavier. "You see my old friend, this is a wall made of pure hatred. The sort of hatred that can only be bred in darkness." Amahl sighed. "Well then, I'm off Cairo. Perhaps I'll see you there?" he began to chuckle, "Oh that's right, your going to be trapped here, silly me. Yes, you'll be trapped in this godforsaken place just as I was. Well farewell Charles Xavier." Amahl took his hand from the wall, and turned to walk down a corridor.

Amahl smiled as he made his way closer and closer to Rogue's chamber. When he finally arrived, Amahl took a deep breath, calming himself. His smile faded into fake sorrow, as he knocked on the door.

Rogue stirred slightly in her bed. Slowly she opened her eyes, awoken by the knocking. Rogue quickly jumped up. "What the…?" she looked around. "My head… But Ah thought Ah was…" the knocking continued. Rogue stood up, "Ah'm coming. Ah'm coming…" She opened the door, to see Amahl standing sadly in front of her. "Amahl?" Rogue asked.

"Rogue…" Amahl started, before sighing. "I've been thinking Rogue… About what you said…"

Rogue looked at Amahl, curiously. "What Ah said? What do ya mean?"

"When you said you wanted to go home, to your home…" Amahl looked into Rogue's greenish gray eyes. "It's not right for me to keep you here. If you wish to return home, I will do all I can to help you."

A smile grew onto Rogue's face. "Amahl… Thank you." she said.

Amahl nodded. "Anything for you, Rogue. Though I must tell you, my powers… I can only help you get back to the psychical realm."

"That's no problem at all. Ah mean Ah should be able to get home once Ah'm there." She told him.

"Well you see… My power originates in Cairo, so I could only get you there." Amahl said, suppressing his dark smile.

"Oh…" Rogue said quietly. "Well that shouldn't be too bad. Ah mean Ah suppose Ah can find a way home from there." She smiled.

Amahl nodded. "Alright, when you are prepared to leave, please meet me in the courtyard." He said, turning to walk back the way he had come.

Rogue watched Amahl leave, before closing the door. Rogue then quickly got ready. She was finally going home.

Cairo, Egypt

* * *

The X-Men landed the Blackbird at a small private airport, just outside of Cairo. As they departed the jet, an Egyptian man was waiting for them.

"Salem Ale Ku! You must be Xavier's X-Men." The man greeted them.

Remy looked over the man "Yea… Dat's us, and who might ya be?"

"Oh, a thousand apologizes! I am Akhekh, an old acquaintance of Professor Xavier. He contacted me, and asked me to greet you at the airport. Also he wanted me to take you into town, yes?"

Storm stepped forward. "Yes, thank you Akhekh. We need to go into downtown Cairo."

Akhekh nodded. "Yes, yes of course! Please come, I will show you the way." He told them, then turning to walk towards town.

The X-Men quickly followed after Akhekh, ready for the fight when they arrived in Cairo.

* * *

I know it's a short chapter, but it needed to be done so that I can move on to the conclusion. Speaking of which, the conclusion should be coming up soon. I say should be, because I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again. Though with summer vacation right around the corner, it shouldn't be too long. Well as always, I love you guys for reading! And remember to please review!


	23. Ch 23: Secrets, yet to be revealed

Cairo, Egypt 

Akhekh led the X-Men throughout the downtown part of Cairo. All along the way he proceeded to explain Egypt's vast and noble history; periodically stopping to show them an old temple or building. Everyone patiently followed him, smiling and nodding politely at his history lesson. That is… Everyone but Remy and Logan; whom were both in the back of the group, sulking in anger and frustration.

"Oi vey… Is dis guy ever gonna shut up…?" Remy questioned quietly.

Logan glanced over at Gambit, "Hmph… With our luck… No…" he replied, with a small snarl.

Storm looked back at the two, and sighed. She turned to Jean, "It appears that those two aren't enjoying the scenery."

Jean chuckled "Yea… But I can see why they're frustrated. The longer Akhekh keeps up his little tour, the longer it'll take us to find Rogue…"

Storm nodded. "Yes you are right." She glanced around, getting a look at just where they were. Storm looked directly ahead, "We're getting close… It shouldn't be too much further ahead—"

Storm's words were cut off by Akhekh's abrupt stop. He turned to face the group, his expression full of worry, sorrow, and fear. "My apologizes, friends of Xavier, but I can take you no further… This part of town is forbidden to enter, lest you wish to face an untimely death…" Akhekh explained solemnly.

Logan growled, walking forward to stand in front of Akhekh. "What is that supposed to mean, bub?"

Akhekh looked down to the ground, "A thousand apologizes, it is an old tale; a legend you might say. Though be it legend or real, my people do not travel to this region of the city. It has been abandoned for years."

Storm placed a hand on Logan's shoulder, stepping forward to stand beside him. "Please Akhekh, what is this legend?"

Akhekh looked up to the Weather Witch, his eyes beginning to nervously dart back and forth. "It is the story of The Shadow King…"

Astral Plane ~ Amahl's Palace

Rogue smiled, and danced in a small circle in her room. The happiness she was feeling at getting to go home was too much for her to keep bottled up inside her. She quickly showered and dressed herself, trying to get ready as quickly as possible. Rogue wanted to hurry so that she could rush down to the courtyard to meet Amahl. After brushing through her hair once, Rogue opened the door and darted down the hall. She didn't know why she wanted to leave so badly, except for the sickening feeling that this wasn't her home in her gut.

Rogue ran down the various halls, which she knew to lead to the throne room and then to the courtyard. As she ran into the throne room, her eye was caught by a large dark object. She slowed her pace, as she went towards the object. The closer she got to the strange dark object the more she wanted to run away from it. Although her curiosity bided her closer, and closer. Now she could see that this object was like a large, tall box. Rogue watched as dark spirals seemed to dance along the box's sides; it was mesmerizing. Slowly, Rogue reached out towards the swirling darkness; the darkness calling out to her.

Just as she was a mere inch from contact, Amahl stepped into his throne room. He quickly yelled "Don't!"

Amahl's yell awakened Rogue from her daze. She placed her hand to her head, stepping back a bit. "What… What is this thing?" she asked, looking from the box to Amahl. Amahl's eyes darkened in anger, he had not wanted her to find his prison so soon. He had to think of something to tell her, "Amahl?"

He cleared his throat, concealing his anger and frustration. "Rogue, you shouldn't touch things that aren't yours." He said calmly, taking a few steps closer to Rogue and his dark prison. "This here…. Why… It's merely a box for secrets. Yes…" Amahl nodded to himself "A secret box, a place where I can hide things from others; almost like how a young girl would keep a diary."

Rogue looked back at the box "Like a diary? Ah suppose that makes sense, but why is this the first time Ah've seen it?"

Amahl straightened, "Well because until recently it had been in storage. Although with you deciding to leave my palace, I brought it out; for inside is something I want you to see."

Rogue's eyes glistened with curiosity "Ah see… Well then can Ah see what's inside now?" she asked.

"No." Amahl said flatly. "We can't ruin the surprise, not just yet at least."

"Oh…" Rogue said, biting her bottom lip. "So then when can Ah see what's inside?" she asked, trying to suppress her disappointment. She didn't know why, but something inside writhed at the thought of the contents of the box. Perhaps, it was just the writhing of curiosity; Rogue nodded internally, yes curiosity that had to be it.

Amahl smiled, walking over to place an arm around Rogue's shoulders. "It shall be revealed as a final parting gift; for when you are back in the physical realm.

* * *

Ok... So I feel like a TOTAL moron... I had this chapter finished for quite a while, but never uploaded it... ^^; heh heh... Yea, sorry about that... Well anywho! Here's chapter 23. The story should be wrapping up soon, in case y'all couldn't tell. But I stand by what I said earlier in I make no promises in updating super duper fast. But I'll try ^^


	24. Ch 24: New Findings

Rogue couldn't think of anything to say; Amahl just stood there, smiling with his arm around her shoulders. "Now then…" Amahl cleared his throat, "Are you fully prepared?" Rogue nodded, and Amahl removed his arm now starting to take a few steps towards the courtyard.

"How long until your ready…?" Rogue asked. Her voice came out a lot quieter than she expected. Amahl looked back over his shoulder at Rogue, and then he glanced over at the dark box. He could hear Xavier's pleas and shouts to Rogue, and knowing the fact that only he could hear Xavier caused a dark smile to play across his lips. "Amahl…?"

Amahl mentally shook his head, and masked his dark smile with a sweeter one as he turned his attention back to Rogue. "Don't worry, dear. It shouldn't take long for the preparations to be complete." Amahl continued walking, and was soon out in the courtyard; leaving Rogue alone with the dark box. Amahl kept walking, even after he was sure that Rogue could no longer see him. He entered into a large clearing in the grounds; the area was grassy, and free of all other decoration or foliage. Amahl had prepared this area specifically for this occasion.

The area was just spacious enough for a semi large group to move about freely; yet, there were plenty of space for traps. Amahl snickered to himself as he walked around the clearing, "Yes… Yes… It shouldn't take long, my dear… Not long at all…"

In the Palace

Rogue stood alone in the throne room, staring after Amahl. Rogue knitted her brows together, suspiciously. "There's something different about him…" she said aloud. Rogue sighed, and held her arms "If only Ah could figure out what…" she turned and started to walk away.

Professor Xavier cried out from inside the dark prison, calling after Rogue. "Rogue! Rogue! Do not fall for this! I know you're smarter than this!" Xavier angrily hit the wall of his prison. "What is wrong with her…?" he asked quietly, giving up on shouting after her.

"Have you finally given up on your incessant shouting?" Amahl asked, as he stood behind the prison.

Xavier turned quickly to stare at the Shadow King, "Farouk… But you had just left, why return from your preparations so quickly?"

Amahl laughed coldly, "I haven't. This is merely a copy of myself, you see… This is my domain, my power is limitless here."

Xavier nodded, knowing the full extent of a telepath's power in the Astral Plane. "Yes… Tell me, what exactly is it that you want, Farouk?"

Amahl scowled, "You should know what I want Charles. I want to be free of this accursed prison that you trapped me in." he said angrily, before quickly re-composing himself. "With Rogue, I can accomplish just that."

"Why Rogue! What use is she to you?" Xavier asked, watching the Shadow King cautiously.

Amahl smiled and chuckled slightly. "Rogue's power is… Unique… " he nodded, "Yes… Unique. With her in this condition, I can easily manipulate her to get what I want."

"Condition?" Xavier asked, now confused.

Amahl cocked an eyebrow, "Oh? Your precious X-Men hadn't told you? What a shame…" he smirked.

Xavier's gaze now turned stern, "Hadn't told me what?"

Amahl chuckled darkly, "Dear little Rogue has lost all her memories." Xavier gasped slightly, now starting to realize Amahl's plans. "Yes, now you understand. Rogue is in a weakened and confused state, and in this state I can manipulate her to do anything I wish. I am the only she trusts…" he explained with a cruel smile. "Now if you'd excuse me, I must get back to work…"

Xavier watched as Amahl disappeared. He stared in horror at the spot at which he had just been, not sure how to react or what to do to save Rogue and the rest of his X-Men.

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I know this chapter is kinda short, but I'll be updating the next chapter here in a little bit. I love having a laptop, and going to a school that allows you to use them. It gives me time to write while in class, granted it distracts me from the lesson, but oh well! ^^ Anyways here's chapter 24, and chapter 25 will be up most likely in the next 10 minutes. Remember to please review, I really do appreciate all the comments ^^


	25. Ch 25: Travels to a New World

As the others ran into the back room, everything was silent as they all just stared at Rogue's motionless body. Her breathe was long and deep, but appeared to be shortening; Jean stepped forward, past Remy, and placed a careful hand on Rogue's shoulder. Jean placed her other hand to her temple, and closed her eyes.

"Is she…?" Remy started, but was quickly stopped by harsh shushing sound from Jean. Jean stood there for a moment, not moving, not saying a word, just standing as motionless as Rogue lying on the altar. Finally, Jean opened her eyes and took a step back from Rogue. "Jean…" Remy looked up to the red headed telepath.

Jean just shook her head and hugged herself worriedly. "I-I don't know…" she stuttered slightly, and took a deep breathe to recompose herself. "It's just like back at the Institute with Cerebro, she's there… I mean we can see that she is… But it's like she's just gone, I can't pick up any mental trace…"

Logan growled, and lowered his head. "So then what are we supposed to do? It's not like Chuck gave us specific instructions. How are we supposed to get her back?" he almost shouted. Jean quickly stepped over to Logan and placed a caring and calming hand on his shoulder. Logan sighed, and he looked over to Rogue and he quickly looked away again. He lowered his shoulders and head, and walked back to lean against the wall of the altar room.

Remy sighed, as he looked back down to Rogue. "C'mon Chere… Ya can't just leave us like dis…" he reached up to stroke her cheek, hesitating only for a second. As his fingers touched her cheek, Remy gasped. Quickly he pulled his hand away, and fell back to the ground.

Jean ran over, "Gambit… What's wrong, what happened?"

Remy shook his head, "I-I don't know… I touched Chere, and den I…"

"Then you what?" Logan asked, glancing up at the Cajun.

Remy looked over to Wolverine, "I saw Chere… Sh-she was standing in a bedroom…"

Storm finally spoke up, but her tone was apathetic with a slight hint of anger. "Of course… Don't you see? Rogue's powers absorb part of a person inside of her. When you touched her… You were able to glance into _his_ world…"

Jean smiled brightly at Storm, "That's it! Ororo you are absolutely right! That's how we can get Rogue back!"

Logan stood up straight, looking at Jean incredulously. "What are ya gettin' at Red? Sure, one of us goes in with Rogue… But how do we get her out?"

Jean's smile faltered slightly, "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but… but it's a start. I'm sure that once with Rogue we can figure out what to do from there." She told them hopefully. "All we have to figure out is, who is going to be the one to go—"

Jean was cut off by Gambit, who quickly stood up "Remy'll do it." He said, this time with no hesitation at all. Everyone looked at him, as Remy stood there solid as stone. Only when he took a deep breath did his shoulders and muscles relax. "I'll be de one ta go."

Storm took a step forward, like she was ready to say something; when Logan beat her to it, "And why should we trust something like this with you, Gumbo?"

Remy glared over at Wolverine, "Because… Remy can talk ta her, she trusts me… _Remember_…" he added extra emphasis to his last word, getting the point across to Logan.

Logan growled, and folded his arms across his chest in defeat. Out of the group, Rogue seemed to remember Gambit the best; it was also Remy who was watching over her at the Institute, careful to make sure that nothing went wrong. Logan stared at the Cajun, whom was standing determinedly across the room. '_could it be… that this Cajun actually cares for Rogue…?'_ Logan thought to himself, before sighing. "Fine… The Cajun can go…"

Jean nodded, and Storm finally stepped forward. "Gambit… You'll have to be careful in there. Amahl will take kindly to intruders, especially if he has a plan ready to unfold" she said, gesturing towards Rogue. "He wouldn't just take Rogue for no reason, he's not the type to act without reason."

Remy nodded to the weather witch, and looked back to Rogue. "Alright, I'll do whatever it takes ta get Chere back."

Everyone nodded, Jean stepped forward standing by Remy "Be careful. We'll be right here when you two get back." Remy smiled and nodded, before turning back to face Rogue. He took his fingerless glove off, and carefully took off Rogue's glove. His bare hand hovered momentarily above Rogue's, before he clasped his hand around hers. Remy gasped, and held on tightly; it only took a minute before he slumped down on knees. Remy's hand was still entwined in Rogue's as he made his way to her, in the Astral Plane.

Astral Plane ~ Amahl's Palace

Rogue's eyes were opened wide, and her hands were covering her mouth; falling to her knees, her gaze never left the spot on the floor where she had just momentarily seen Remy. Slowly, she removed her hands from her mouth and placed one on the ground. "What in the world…? Was he really…?" Rogue's words came out quietly and slowly. Suddenly, there was a flash of bright, white light; Rogue fell back with a small scream. Her eyes were closed tightly, and she only opened them when she felt something wrap around her. When she looked, all she could see was a mop of messy brown hair. "R-remy…?" she asked slowly, a hint of fear nestled under her tone.

Remy leaned back from his embrace, keeping his hands on Rogue's shoulders as he gazed into her eyes. "Yea Chere… It's me…"

It only took those few words before Rogue threw her arms around his neck. Tears began streaming down her cheeks, as she held him tightly. "Remy… It really is you…"

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As promised, here's the next chapter. Not only two chapters in one day, but two chapters in like 5 minutes. ^^ Gotta love my school! Anyways, things are finally starting to wrap up; I'm hoping to finish up the story by chapter 30. If not then it won't be too many more chapters after 30; I'm not sure about you guy's but when I'm reading a story, if it drags on for too long I start to lose interest... I hope that won't happen with you guys! Well I love you all for keeping up with this story, you guy's are awesome!


	26. Ch 26: New Hope

Astral Plane – Amahl's Palace

Remy held Rogue close, not wanting to let go; Rogue didn't make a motion to let go either. Although, in his head he knew that this would get them nowhere; so slowly Remy pulled back from Rogue, and sighed. Rogue looked at him, her lips pulled into a happy smile. "Remy… How… How did you get here?" Remy looked at Rogue carefully, they had never decided what exactly to tell Rogue. With her memories being gone, there would be no way she would believe that she had powers. He thought carefully debating on what he should and shouldn't tell her this soon. "…Remy…?"

He shook his head and stood up, motioning for Rogue to do the same. When Rogue stood, Remy put a hand on her shoulder. "Cherè, do ya know how ta get outta 'ere?" he asked her carefully.

Rogue looked at him curiously, "What do you mean? Where do you want to go?"

Remy watched her, concern flooding his gaze, "Out of 'ere, dis place, dis world… We need ta get home."

Rouge nodded slowly, she had forgotten all about the plans with Amahl to get home. "Ah suppose… We can talk to Amahl… He was going to help me get outta here and back home. Ah was actually getting ready to leave when you appeared."

Remy looked around the room, carefully. From the look of the place, it was obvious that Rogue had been living like a queen for the past few days. "Dis Amahl guy… Who is he, exactly?" he asked, the name sounded familiar but the reason evaded him.

Rogue thought about just who Amahl was, when in all honesty, she herself hadn't really all that much thought to it. "Well… He's…" Rogue couldn't answer, she didn't know who Amahl really was; so she gave the only answer that she could think of, "Well, he's the king of this palace," she motioned her arms around the room, "He's the one who found me, when Ah wound up here in this place."

Remy nodded, "Well den, he sounds just like de guy we need ta talk ta. De sooner we get outta dis world, de better."

Rogue listened and took a step towards the door. "Then Ah suppose that we should go and find him. The last time Ah talked to him, he was going to the courtyard to prepare for the trip." She gestured her head towards the door, with a smile. "Come on, Ah'm sure that he'll be happy to meet you." Remy nodded, and walked over to Rogue. As they walked down the hall, Remy kept close to Rogue and kept a close eye on her and the surroundings. Something about the place in itself made Remy nervous. Rogue took notice of his uneasiness. "You ok?" she asked, glancing up at him. Remy didn't respond, instead he just kept darting his eyes about the hall nervously. "Remy?"

Remy snapped back into reality, and looked down to Rogue, who had stopped walking. "Yea, Remy is fine, Cherè" he told reassuringly. "It's just dat dis is an unfamiliar place, ya know?" he said with a smile. Rogue nodded and started walking again. It fell quiet again for a few minutes, until they had reached the throne room. Remy looked about the room, and his eyes fell upon the shadowy box near the back of the room. "What in de world…" Remy began walking towards the box, "What is dat?" he reached a hand out to touch it, but was stopped by a shout from Rogue.

"Remy, no!" she shouted, running towards him and grabbing his hand before he could touch it. "Amahl said not to touch that…" she said cautiously, looking from Remy to the box. "Come on, let's go find Amahl." She tugged on his hand, "Come on."

It took another tug on his hand from Rogue to finally get him to move from the box. As they walked away, Remy looked back over his shoulder at the box again. Something about felt almost, _familiar_ to him. Slowly, Remy shook the thought from his head and turned to walk with Rogue, whom still had his hand in hers. From inside the box, Xavier sat astonished from what he just saw. Gambit. Gambit had somehow made it into the Astral Plane. With Gambit now here, that stood the chance of ruining Amahl's plans. For the first time, since he had become informed of everything, Xavier smiled. Out of all of his X-Men, Gambit could be the one to help Rogue the most.

Cairo, Egypt. 

The remaining X-Men stood around the motionless bodies of Rogue and Gambit. The room had been silent for a long while, and it appeared that no one was going to speak. It was Storm who finally spoke up, "Come everyone, we should prepare ourselves. Farouk isn't the sort of man to give up so easily; especially with something like this."

Logan nodded, and turned away from the two astral travellers. "Yer right. We need to be ready for anything this might be planning." He said, pushing some of crumbled wall to the side. The building was old, and that was apparent from all the weather erosion on the walls, floor, and ceiling. A place like this could put the X-Men at a major fighting disadvantage; so Logan took the initiative, and began to clean up some of the rubble.

Jean kept an eye on the two, and placed a hand on Remy's bare arm and another hand to her own temple; in attempts to make contact with Remy. Jean could easily join the two in the familiar plane, and telepath could but yet; something, kept her from doing so. Instead she opted to use Remy as her pair of eyes to get a glimpse of what is going on. She concentrated her thoughts, trying to get into Remy's; yet his thoughts were too scattered for her to grasp ahold of. All Jean could see clearly in Remy's mind, was a smiling Rogue and a mysterious black box, shrouded in shadows and darkness. Jean pulled away from Gambit, and began to assist the others with cleaning up. She smiled slightly to herself, glad that they were both ok, but still worried of what was yet to come.

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Howdy y'all! Here's next chapter, and I hope you all like it! I know my updates seem to get further and further apart, but I'm really busy right with school and family stuff. So please forgive me if the updates don't come oh so quickly. I've been writing whenever I get a spare moment-which isn't very often-and trying to upload as soon as a chapter is done. Well anyways, hope everyone enjoys, and remember to please review ^^


	27. Ch 27: The End pt 1

Astral Plane – Amahl's Courtyard

"Amahl! Amahl! Where are you!?" Rogue yelled out into the courtyard, in search of her caretaker. Stamping her foot, placing frustrated hands on her hips, and huffing a strand of white hair from her eyes she scowled. "Where could he have gotten off to?" she asked aloud, but mostly to herself. Remy leaned against a pillar, and smirked to himself as he watched the familiar traits of the girl. He couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at her frustrations; although, this chuckle caused Rogue to quickly spin on her heel and glare at him. "What's so funny?"

"Ya are, Cherè" Remy responded coyly. His response only caused Rogue's scowl to deepen, as she turned back around to survey the courtyard once more. "Rogue, do ya even know where he said ta meet?"

Rogue sighed, and glanced back at Remy, "He said to meet him in the courtyard, and this is the courtyard… Then again… It's a really big place, and the last time I wandered around here Ah…" Rogue cut herself off, and shook her head. "Never mind…" she turned around to fully face Remy. "I suppose all we can do is to wait for him here."

Remy nodded slowly, wondering all what had happened since she disappeared from the Institute. Watching as Rogue sat herself down on the marble steps; Remy stood up straight and walked over to sit next to her. "Cherè?" Rogue looked over at him, with a casual 'hmm?' Remy in turn, did not look at her, but instead looked up to the sky. "Do ya know what happened at de Institute? Ya know, right before ya ended up 'ere?"

Rogue turned her head to look upwards as Remy did. She hadn't really thought about it since she arrived. '_What did happen…?'_ she asked herself. Furrowing her brow, Rogue brought a hand up to her temple. "Ah have no idea… Ah…" Suddenly, the noontime sky grew dark. Rogue looked out to the courtyard, while Remy stood and inspected the sky. Off in the distance, a figure appeared to be emerging from the growing darkness. Rogue blinked hard, and rubbed her eyes as her vision began to haze.

The darkness began to swirl around them. Rogue stood up, only to find her sense of balance missing, causing her to fall back to the ground with a _thud_. Remy's attention was quickly caught by the thud, and in a mere second, he was on the ground holding Rogue in his arms. "Cherè! Cherè! Rogue! Answer me!" Rogue could barely hear Remy calling out to her, everything was spinning.

Rogue placed both her hands on her head. '_You belong to me… Don't you forget it…'_ She could hear a voice in her head scream out in anger. "Amahl…" Rogue faintly said, before passing out in Remy's arms; her body now limp in his grasp.

Astral Plane – Ritual Grounds

"Damn!" Amahl shouted in frustration, pulling his psyche from Rogue's mind. "That damn girl! How dare she bring a mortal here!?" Amahl began to pace around the circle clearing. "Things were going so well. Now I must re-think my plans, and of what I shall do with the X-Men." He stopped his pacing, and snapped his fingers. "That's it!"

Stepping towards the center of the clearing, Amahl closed his eyes, concentrating. Then suddenly, he was gone.

Cairo, Egypt

The old building had been cleared, mostly. Rubble that once littered the floor in scattered piles, now were pushed off to the side, leaving the center of each room clear. "There, that ought to do it." Wolverine stated, clapping his hands together, causing a small cloud of dust to fly out from between them. "Should this Farouk guy come looking fer a fight, we'll be ready to oblige."

"Do not get a head of yourself, Logan." Storm warned, walking into the room. "The Shadow King is a formidable opponent. He will fight to the brink for his ambitions."

"Eh, whatever." Logan responded by waving away her warnings, "Whatever this guy has up his sleeve, I can handle it."

Jean rolled her eyes at the two and turned her attention back to Remy and Rogue; suddenly, they had really caught her attention. Walking closer to them, Jean could see that their expressions had changed; Remy now had an extremely worried expression, while Rogue donned an eerily calm. "Wolverine. Storm. Something's going on!" She called out to them, placing a hand on Remy's forehead; although, just as quickly as she placed the hand, she drew it back exclaiming in pain.

Storm and Wolverine quickly stepped to the red-head's side, "Jean, what is it?" Storm questioned.

"He's making his move."

Logan and Ororo shared a concerned glance, before a sudden dark light filled the room and then the entire house. Once the light had vanished, the three X-Men looked up to see that they were no longer alone in the small house.

"My, my, if it isn't Xavier's _precious_ children; ah, and my own." He gestured to Storm, "Welcome, X-Men, to my base of operations! Allow me to properly introduce myself, I am Amahl Farouk, but you may call me The Shadow King!"


End file.
